NEW YORK -- Stocks made modest gains on Thursday as the market once again turned higher late in the day. Energy stocks led the way as investors continued to hope that oil prices have stabilized after almost two years of steep declines.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.58 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,943.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up 6.95 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,993.40. Tech stocks lagged, and the Nasdaq composite index added 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,707.42.
For the second day in a row, stocks opened with small losses and gradually rose during the afternoon. Energy companies surged and are now slightly higher for the year. Industrial companies Caterpillar and Deere also rose. Drugmakers led a decline in health care stocks.
Stocks have eked out small gains over the past two days, aided by steady oil prices and reports showing the U.S. economy is on solid footing. After a big jump on Tuesday, the market is on target for its third-consecutive weekly gain.
The price of U.S. crude wavered between small gains and losses, finally closing down 9 cents at $34.57 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oils, added 14 cents to $37.07 a barrel in London. The price of U.S. oil has risen more than 30 percent in three weeks, and Brent crude has erased its losses for the year.
ConocoPhillips shares rose $2.07, or 5.7 percent, to $38.56 and Southwestern Energy jumped $1.13, or 18.2 percent, to $7.34.
Shares of Chesapeake Energy continued to skyrocket after the company said it does not expect to be prosecuted or fined as part of a federal investigation into founder and former company head Aubrey McClendon, who left the company in 2013.
On Tuesday, McClendon was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of rigging gas-lease bids. Officials announced Wednesday that McClendon had died that morning in a single-car crash in Oklahoma City. The U.S. Department of Justice's Chicago-based antitrust division filed a motion to dismiss the bid-rigging conspiracy indictment on Thursday in federal court in Oklahoma City.
The stock jumped 23 percent Wednesday and added another 87 cents, or 25.6 percent, to $4.27. The stock tumbled 74 percent in 2015.
J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade, said that after Tuesday's surge, investors are being patient and looking for good news about the state of the economy. That could come this morning, when the government reports its latest employment figures.
Kinahan said investors will be looking for signs of growth in better-paying jobs.
"We know we're not going to be a manufacturing economy again," he said, but investors hope to see some growth in manufacturing jobs instead of losses.
Shares of supermarket operator Kroger dropped $2.85, or 7 percent, to $37.80 after investors were disappointed with its quarterly sales and its forecasts.
Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped to 1.83 percent from 1.84 percent late Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.0950 from $1.0868 and the dollar edged up to 113.52 yen from 113.45 yen.
Business on 03/04/2016