NEW YORK--Wall Street stocks jumped Friday as oil prices rebounded, snapping a five-day losing streak that had left the equity market looking oversold to some investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 190.86 points (1.10 percent) to 17,511.57.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 26.75 (1.34 percent) to 2,019.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index surged 63.56 (1.39 percent) to 4,634.38.
Investors were reassured by a healthy 5.3 percent rise in US oil prices as the International Energy Agency declared there were signs "the tide will turn" in the battered oil market following recent multi-year lows.
Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management, said the market was due for a good day after a five-day slide that had left the S&P 500 below 2,000.
But Blicksilver said there has been "no trend change" and that investor anxiety remains elevated.
Dow component Goldman Sachs lost 0.7 percent as fourth-quarter net income declined 7.1 percent following a drop in trading revenues and underwriting. Earnings of $4.38 per share came in six cents above analyst expectations.
But other banks rose after suffering deep losses earlier in the week on disappointing earnings. Dow member JPMorgan jumped 1.7 percent, while Citigroup and Bank of America advanced by 0.8 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Oil-services company Schlumberger bolted 6.1 percent higher after it cut 9,000 jobs as it scaled back operations in response to lower investment from oil and gas exploration companies.
Dow component Chevron rose 2.4 percent and Anadarko Petroleum gained 3.9 percent.
Dow component Intel finished 0.7 percent following a mixed earnings report. Profits for the fourth quarter of 74 cents per share bested expectations by eight cents, but the company's first-quarter revenue forecast was below that of some analysts.
The New York Stock Exchange suspended the shares of forex trading firm FXCM after they plunged nearly 90 percent in pre-market trade after the firm said that the sharp rise in the Swiss franc had possibly left it capital-short.
After the market closed, Leucadia National Corp. announced that it would provide FXCM $300 million in cash to make up the shortfall.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury jumped to 1.83 percent from 1.73 percent Thursday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.44 percent from 2.37 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
AFP
