NEW YORK — A late rally led by energy companies pushed U.S. stock indexes higher Monday after the market flitted between small gains and losses for most of the day.
Stocks opened higher, then moved down, then back up as investors seemed unable to make up their minds. A pair of weak reports on the U.S. economy fed the uncertainty. Oil prices ended up surging for a third straight day, and stocks of big producers jumped. All 10 industry sectors in the Standard and Poor’s 500 index rose.
Exxon Mobil rose 2.5 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Chevron jumped 3.4 percent. Both companies are members of the Dow Jones industrial average.
The market got a lift in early trading after European markets climbed following reassuring comments from France on Greece’s efforts to ease the terms of its financial rescue program.
Monday morning, a closely watched monthly report revealed that U.S. manufacturing expanded last month at the slowest pace in a year. Also, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending edged lower in December as vehicle sales slowed and more Americans chose to save rather than spend.
“The market still hasn’t found a comfort zone,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Volatility was so low for so long, we got used to it.”
The S&P 500 rose 25.86 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,020.85. The Dow added 196.09 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,361.04. The Nasdaq composite rose 41.45 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,676.69
U.S. crude oil rose $1.33 to close at $49.57 a barrel in New York, its highest level in nearly a month.
Investors will turn their attention next to several big companies reporting this week, including United Parcel Service and Disney on Tuesday and GM on Wednesday.
With about half the companies in the S&P 500 index already out with their results, earnings for companies in the index are expected to have risen 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, according to FactSet, a financial data provider. That is one of the smallest gains since the economic recovery began nearly six years ago.
