Wall Street stocks pushed higher on Monday to begin a holiday-shortened trading week, while oil prices rallied amid worsening tensions between the United States and Venezuela.

Gold and silver also struck fresh record highs, as the United States pushed on with its Venezuela oil blockade.

US market watchers are expecting a low-key week, with equity markets closing early on Wednesday and all day Thursday for the Christmas holiday, a dynamic expected to result in light trading volumes.

"US stock indices continue to power ahead in what some describe as the long-awaited traditional 'Santa rally'," said Axel Rudolph, an analyst at IG trading platform.

All three major US indices finished solidly higher after spending the entire day in positive territory. The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent, to 6,878. The Dow rose 0.5 percent, to 48,362, while the Nasdaq also rose 0.5 percent, to 23,428.

Interactive Brokers' Steve Sosnick predicted stocks would drift higher in the absence of major trading catalysts.

"Barring any outside shocks, this kind of pattern is likely to prevail until the end of the year," Sosnick said.

Gold, which benefits from expectations of lower US interest rates, hit a fresh record of US$4,442.19, while silver also struck a new peak.

The precious metals, which are go-to assets in times of crisis, also benefited from geopolitical worries as Washington steps up its oil blockade against Venezuela.

Oil prices rose more than two percent amid the geopolitical tensions.

Meanwhile, Oracle tech tycoon Larry Ellison offered a US$40.4 billion personal guarantee to back Paramount's hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery, deepening a bidding war with Netflix.

Shares in Paramount jumped 4.3 percent and those in Warner Bros Discovery rose 3.5 percent. Shares in Netflix slid 1.2 percent. (AFP)