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Wall Street had edged higher on Wednesday after a sharp rise in oil prices boosted energy shares, while encouraging data on the labour market helped financial stocks.
US oil prices jumped more than 3 per cent to $40.84 a barrel, rising for the first time in six days, after a larger-than-expected gasoline draw offset a surprise build in US. crude stockpiles. WTI crude had fallen below $40 for the first time since April earlier in the week.
The S&P energy index was up 1 per cent as the best performing of the 10 major S&P groups.
“If (oil) does break $40 and goes to $35, the energy stocks are going to get clocked once again,” said Ken Polcari, Director of the NYSE floor division at O'Neil Securities in New York.
“If it holds here at $40 then people may breathe a sigh a relief and say the worst is over.”
US jobs data
Data showed the US private sector added 179,000 jobs in July, beating estimates of 170,000. The report comes ahead of the more comprehensive national payrolls report on Friday.
If the labour market is able to build on its recent strength, it could make the case for the Federal Reserve to raise benchmark US interest rates later this year.
Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans had said on Wednesday that one rate hike may be appropriate this year, despite his worry that inflation is still undershooting the US central bank's 2 per cent target.
The possibility of a rate hike this year helped support financial stocks, along with a 7.2 per cent jump in American International Group after the largest commercial insurer in the United States and Canada reported an operating profit that beat analysts' estimate.
The S&P financial sector rose 0.8 per cent.
Healthcare shares were lower, weighed down by a 3.5 per cent drop in Biogen . Reuters reported the company has not received any formal expressions of interest from potential acquirers a day after buyout reports sent the stock up more than 9 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.94 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 18,317.71, the S&P 500 gained 1.47 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 2,158.5 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.72 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 5,147.45.
Tesla and Twenty-First Century Fox are scheduled to report after the bell.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.66-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.56-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 35 new lows.
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