Financial and energy companies led a modest increase in stocks Wednesday, giving the market its third gain in a row.
The market got a boost from a pickup in the price of oil, which climbed about 4 percent after an early slide. When oil prices rise, they tend to favor battered energy stocks and financial companies such as banks, which have been in the doldrums because of investor concerns that loans to struggling oil companies could go bad.
After several weeks of moving in different directions, the stock market appears to be getting more closely tied to the fluctuations in oil prices.
“Oil is what’s been driving the market lately,” said Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets.
Utilities and consumer staples stocks were among the biggest decliners.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 42.67 points, or 0.24 percent, to 18,096.27. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 1.60 points to 2,102.40. The Nasdaq composite index gained 7.80 points to 4,948.13.
The Dow is now up almost 4 percent for the year, while the S&P 500 is up about 3 percent. The Nasdaq narrowed its loss to 1.2 percent.
U.S. crude rose $1.55, or 3.8 percent, to close at $42.63 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed $1.77, or 4 percent, at $45.80 a barrel in London. Heating oil jumped 5.5 percent after adding 7 cents to close at $1.33 a gallon.
Investors had their eye on the latest batch of company earnings. With only about 15 percent of companies having reported, many have turned in better-than-expected results.
Discover Financial Services led all the gainers in the S&P 500 after the credit card issuer and lender reported better-than-anticipated quarterly profit and sales as loan volume improved. The stock climbed $4.29, or 8.2 percent, to $56.84.
