NEW YORK (AP) — Hour-to-hour swings for oil prices keep jerking financial markets around, and U.S. stocks are drifting higher Thursday following the latest reversal.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and inched closer to its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 299 points, or 0.6%, as of 2 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher.
All three measures of U.S. stocks erased early drops following the latest 180-degree swing for oil prices. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly climbed above $109 in the morning, threatening to worsen the world's already high inflation, before it quickly erased all its gains in midday trading and then fell 2.1% to $102.81.
