Oil’s Well: Rising Energy Stocks Help Send S&P 500 to Record

A spurt in oil prices on Monday revived energy stocks, which have been among the year’s worst performers, and helped push the broader market back to record highs.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 11.42 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,402.32, edging past its prior record set last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 85.33 points, or 0.4 percent, to 20,981.94, the Nasdaq composite gained 28.44, or 0.5 percent, to 6,149.67 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks rose 11.15 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,393.92.

Energy stocks helped lead the way after the price of oil jumped on expectations that the global glut of crude may ease.

A wide group of oil-producing countries has already cut production in hopes of supporting the price of oil, and Russia and Saudi Arabia said they want to extend the cuts through the first three months of 2018. Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.01, or 2.1 percent, to settle at $48.85 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 98 cents to $51.82 a barrel.

The price of oil has swung sharply in recent years, from more than $100 three years ago to less than $30 last year, as concerns wax and wane that supplies will overwhelm demand.

Monday’s rise for crude helped oilfield services provider Halliburton jump $1.37, or 3 percent, to $46.51 for one of Monday’s biggest gains in the S&P 500. Energy companies across the index rose 0.6 percent.

Companies that produce metals and other basic materials, along with financial stocks, were also strong.

South Korean stocks rose Monday even after North Korea launched a missile over the weekend and its leader promised more missile tests. The worldwide “ransomware” cyberattack continued to spread on Monday, which sent cybersecurity stocks like FireEye and Symantec higher, while politicians in Washington wonder whether Republicans’ odds of implementing tax cuts and other pro-business policies have diminished.

The recent run of calmness is a sharp turnaround from the start of last year, when twitchy investors were quick to sell on worries about the global economy.

“We do really see this prevailing sense of complacency,” said Jon Adams, senior investment strategist at BMO Global Asset Management.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.2 percent, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.3 percent and the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.3 percent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index slipped 0.1 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.9 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.2 percent.

In the commodities markets, the price of gold rose $2.30 to settle at $1,230 per ounce, silver rose 20 cents to $16.60 per ounce and copper gained nearly 2 cents to $2.54 per pound.

Natural gas fell 8 cents to $3.35 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil rose 2 cents to $1.51 per gallon and wholesale gasoline climbed 2 cents to $1.60 per gallon.

The euro rose to $1.0978 from $1.0924 late Friday. The dollar rose to 113.68 Japanese yen from 113.41 yen, and the pound rose to $1.2895 from $1.2879.

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up to 2.34 percent from 2.33 percent late Friday. The two-year yield rose to 1.30 percent from 1.29 percent, while the 30-year yield rose to 3.01 percent from 2.99 percent.