Stocks Extend Rally Even as Oil Climbs Again

Wall Street extended a rally into a third day on Thursday, even as oil prices jumped back above $100 per barrel. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 53 points to 4,411, notching a 1.2% gain after drifting between small gains and losses in the early going, per the AP. The Dow rose 417 points, also 1.2%, to 34,480, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 178 points, or 1.3%, to 13,614. US oil, meanwhile, leaped 8.4% to nearly $103 per barrel. Such moves have become the norm as investors struggle to handicap what will happen to the economy and inflation because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, higher interest rates, and renewed COVID-19 worries.

A wave of better-than-expected reports on the US economy Thursday may have helped the mood of investors. Fewer workers applied for unemployment claims last week, and builders broke ground on more homes last month than economists expected. A third report, meanwhile, showed that manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region was stronger than expected. That potentially eased some of the worry from an earlier report that showed the weakest activity in New York state since early in the pandemic. All of this comes a day after the Fed raised its key rate for the first time since 2018.

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