Stocks rose on the seventh anniversary of the bull market on Wednesday as crude oil resumed its climb from a 13-year low.
The gains were modest as investors await key policy decisions from Europe’s central bank Thursday and from the U.S. Federal Reserve next week. Energy companies rebounded from big drops the day before, gaining 1.5 percent.
The stock market has been climbing for three weeks as reports on hiring, retail spending and manufacturing suggest the U.S. economy is strengthening and that fears that a slowdown in China would tip the U.S. into recession are overblown. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index is up 9 percent from its mid-February low.
“People are becoming more optimistic, and markets are recovering,” AB Bernstein chief investment officer Seth Masters said. The hope is that “monetary authorities are committed to doing what it takes and not derail it.”
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 36.26 points to 17,000.36. The Nasdaq composite increased 25.55 point to 4,674.38. The S&P 500 climbed 10 points to 1,989.26.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.79 to $38.29. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, gained $1.42, to $41.07 a barrel.
The jump in crude sent several energy companies soaring. Chesapeake Energy climbed 8 percent, Devon Energy rose 7 percent and Newfield Exploration rose 6 percent.
The S&P 500 has tripled since bottoming out at 676.53 exactly seven years ago during the financial crisis. Stocks have been pushed up by higher corporate earnings, although not in the past year, and by the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented efforts to encourage investors to take more risk by lowering interest rates on bonds and other safer assets.
The Federal Reserve meets next week, but most investors do not think it will raise short-term interest rates it controls from near zero.
