After a long losing streak, Wall Street enjoyed a second consecutive positive finish on Thursday as markets rallied behind continued steadiness in oil prices.
Oil prices have been slashed by more than half in the past six months. So two consecutive days without further dips in prices was welcome news to Wall Street investors, who started 2015 desperate for some good news. The Dow fell nearly 500 points in the campaign’s first four trading sessions, but regained those losses in the last two days of trading.
Experts were further encouraged by comments from Federal Reserve President Charles Evans, who said he felt continued patience was warranted in regards to raising interest rates.
The week has been a volatile one on Wall Street—two days of big losses due to falling oil prices, followed by a two-day rally off stabilization in those same prices. It’s likely that Friday will break the tie, so to speak, when the market reacts to the latest jobs and unemployment numbers.
Here were the numbers from Wall Street on Thursday:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,907.87 (+323.35)
NASDAQ: 4,736.19 (+85.72)
S&P 500: 2,062.13 (+36.23)
