NEW YORK — The biggest Internet IPO since Google, combined with a drop in oil prices, sent the broad stock market higher.
Shares of social-networking company LinkedIn jumped 109 percent to $94.25 on the first day they began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LNKD. The initial public offering is seen as a preview of other social-networking sites that are expected to start trading during the next year. The list of candidates includes the online messaging service Twitter, gamemaker Zynga and the biggest social network of all, Facebook.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 45.14, or 0.4 percent, to close at 12,605.32. The S&P 500 gained 2.92, or 0.2 percent, to 1,343.60. The Nasdaq composite index rose 8.31, or 0.3 percent, to 2,823.31.
Oil prices fell back below $100 a barrel after an international agency said there is an “urgent need” for refineries to produce more gasoline and bring down pump prices in order to prevent a downturn in the global economy. Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 4.1 percent and JetBlue Airways Corp. rose 1.4 percent on expectations that their fuel costs would decrease.
Oil prices have fallen about 13 percent since the beginning of May as part of a broad sell-off in commodities due to fears that the economy is slowing. Despite LinkedIn’s gains, concerns about the economy weighed on the market again Thursday.
The National Association of Realtors said fewer people purchased previously occupied homes in April. The Conference Board’s outlook for future economic activity decreased for the first time since June 2010. And the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its measure of manufacturing activity slumped to its lowest reading since October.
The mixed news confirmed investors’ belief that economic growth could be slow in the coming months. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note had risen as high as 3.24 percent following the positive jobs news but was back down to 3.17 percent, just below the rate it was trading at late Wednesday.
