NEW YORK — Encouraging economic news and a rare rise in oil prices helped give the stock market its first gain in the new year Wednesday.
Major indexes started climbing from the opening bell, after a report from ADP, the payroll processor, which showed that businesses hired more workers last month. Companies added 241,000 workers in December, an increase from the previous month.
The increase offered more evidence that the U.S. economy is on steady ground and gave investors another reason to jump back into the market after five straight days of losses, said Jeff Kravetz, regional investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
All three major U.S. indexes climbed more than 1 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 23.29 points to close at 2,025.90.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 212.88 points to 17,584.52, and the Nasdaq composite gained 57.73 points to 4,650.47.
Before Wednesday, falling oil prices and concerns about the global economy had knocked the S&P 500 down 2.7 percent, its worst start to a year since 2008.
The recent turbulence is probably just a pause in the stock market’s steady run, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors.
“It’s perfectly normal market activity,” Arone said. “Things tend not to go up or down in a straight line.”
Markets barely moved after the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting. Fed officials discussed various risks to the economy but concluded that the recent big drop in oil prices was likely to end up boosting growth.
U.S. crude oil rose 72 cents to close at $48.65 a barrel.
