US close: Stocks end mostly higher as oil prices rally
US stocks ended mostly higher on Thursday, buoyed by a rally in oil prices and dovish remarks from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.7%, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite ended flat.
Investor sentiment got a boost after ECB president Draghi sounded a dovish note at the press conference following the central bank’s rate decision.
Draghi hinted that further stimulus could be on the cards, saying the bank will "review and possibly reconsider" monetary policy at its meeting in March.
He said rates in the euro bloc would “stay at present or lower levels fro an extended period”, noting that the outlook for inflation had weakened significantly.
The ECB stood pat on its benchmark rate at 0.05%, as widely expected.
“Seemingly unfazed by recent communication difficulties, Draghi again hinted to markets in advance that the ECB may need to act at the next meeting in March,” said Societe Generale.
“In view of our own forecasts, we maintain our expectation for the ECB to lower the deposit rate by another 10 basis points, to -0.40%, in March while also extending the TLTRO by one year. Should the global outlook deteriorate more significantly, further rate cuts could be contemplated, but we expect that a much worse growth outlook would be needed in order to expand the QE purchases of €60bn/month.”
A strong bounce in oil prices also helped to underpin the tone on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate was up 5% at $29.78 a barrel and Brent crude was 6% firmer at $29.56 following recent heavy declines.
The US Energy Information Administration said on Thursday that crude inventories were up 4m barrels for the week ended 15 January.
The upbeat mood meant investors were able to shrug off some bad news on the jobs front.
Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed unemployment claims for the seven days ending 16 January rose by 10,000 to 293,000, falling short of expectations for a drop to 278,000.
Elsewhere, the latest report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia revealed that manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region contracted modestly this month.
The diffusion index for current activity rose from a revised reading of -10.2 in December to -3.5, slightly ahead of consensus estimates for a reading of -4. This marked the fifth consecutive month in negative territory.
Meanwhile, the index for current new orders also remained negative, but edged up 10 points to -1.4.
The current shipments index increased 12 points as firms reported a rise at the start of the year, marking its first positive reading in four months.
In corporate news, shares in Travelers Companies were in the black as it announced fourth-quarter earnings fell to $866m, but operating earnings were at $2.90, above analysts’ expectations.
Verizon was also on the front foot after posting slightly better-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter.
Southwest Airlines Co. nudged up after announcing a surge in fourth quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates.
On the downside, Bank of New York Mellon was weaker even though its fourth quarter earnings per share beat analysts’ expectations.
Railroad operator Union Pacific was also in the red after it warned the market of a weak 2016.
S&P 500 - Risers
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $8.80 +19.24%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $6.04 +19.13%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $26.03 +18.37%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $22.62 +12.87%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $24.18 +12.00%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $8.79 +11.83%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $28.39 +10.38%
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) $33.55 +9.86%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $18.65 +8.75%
Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR) $17.24 +8.63%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $27.57 -5.65%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $102.35 -5.00%
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) $15.73 -4.84%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $2.41 -4.37%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $43.94 -4.04%
Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS) $59.01 -3.94%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $66.23 -3.55%
Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) $71.00 -3.55%
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $24.38 -3.52%
BB&T Corp. (BBT) $31.78 -3.29%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.87 +3.26%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $120.22 +3.23%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $81.05 +2.62%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $60.56 +2.57%
General Electric Co. (GE) $28.59 +2.11%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $117.84 +1.78%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $61.85 +1.66%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $94.02 +1.60%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $59.69 +1.50%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $53.56 +1.46%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $151.65 -1.37%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $113.50 -1.12%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $102.70 -0.92%
American Express Co. (AXP) $62.64 -0.62%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $50.48 -0.61%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $96.30 -0.51%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $55.25 -0.47%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $30.58 -0.26%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $46.78 +8.59%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $10.85 +7.91%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $3.04 +4.83%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $58.96 +3.59%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $25.82 +3.36%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $169.56 +2.77%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $63.29 +2.71%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $16.81 +2.69%
Liberty Media Corporation - Series C (LMCK) $34.08 +2.68%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $73.03 +2.61%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $27.57 -5.65%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $102.35 -5.00%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $43.94 -4.04%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $66.23 -3.55%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $155.51 -2.74%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $262.24 -2.64%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $72.76 -2.40%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $68.12 -2.08%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $95.07 -1.98%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $88.83 -1.90%