NEW YORK — The oil rally is on again.
Stocks rose Wednesday for the first day this week as rising oil prices offset worries about the global economic recovery. Oil rose nearly $2 to settle at $101.32 per barrel, pushing energy stocks higher.
Cabot Oil and Gas led the Standard & Poor’s 500, rising 7 percent. Higher prices for copper, silver and other commodities lifted miners and other material companies. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold gained 2 percent.
“It’s a risk-on day,” said Russ Koesterich, the San Francisco- based global chief investment strategist for the IShares unit of BlackRock, which oversees $3.65 trillion as the world’s largest asset manager. “On days when you get a little bit more conviction about the economic recovery, stocks and commodities move up. The risk-on day is also a manifestation of companies most tied to the economy.”
The S&P 500 has fallen 3.2 percent from an almost three- year high April 29 on concern about Europe’s debt crisis and weaker-than-forecast economic data. Indexes of commodity producers slumped at least 5 percent during that period. Still, the benchmark gauge is up 5 percent since the end of 2010 on government stimulus measures and higher-than-forecast profits.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.45 points, 0.3 percent, to close at 12,394.66. The S&P 500 rose 4.19, 0.3 percent, to 1,320.47. The Nasdaq composite rose 15.22, 0.6 percent, to 2,761.38.
“The rally in stocks and commodities reflects the view that the global economic recovery is in place,” said Eric Teal, chief investment officer at First Citizens Bancshares in Raleigh, N.C., which manages $4 billion. “There had been some concern about softness in recent data, and that’s why we saw a pullback. Profits and margins should be sustained at these levels. The trend is higher, and the rally will be driven by companies most exposed to economic growth.”
Markets have been battered in recent days by new worries over Europe’s debt crisis. The last time stocks closed higher was May 19, when investors welcomed a blockbuster initial public offering by social-networking site LinkedIn.
Greece’s government and opposition party failed late Tuesday to reach agreement on how to pare the country’s debts, adding to the uncertainty surrounding Greece’s financial future.
