U.S. stock indexes overcame an early wobble and ended slightly higher, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index its highest close of the year.
Health care companies led the rebound Thursday.
Energy stocks lagged the rest of the market after a meeting of OPEC ministers failed to results in an agreement to curtail output.
Johnson & Johnson rose about 2 percent on news the company has agreed to buy privately held hair care products maker Vogue International.
The S.&P. 500 rose 5 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,105. The Nasdaq composite gained 19 points, or 0.4 percent, 4,971. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 48 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,838.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.80 percent.
THE QUOTE Trading has been subdued as investors hold out for more clues on whether the Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate at the central bank’s next meeting of policy makers later this month.
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“This is just noise trading around on low volume,” said Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “Even with tomorrow’s employment data coming out, I don’t think there’s much that’s going to move the market out of this range we’ve been in until we get some clarity out of the Fed.”
FEELING HEALTHY Health care sector companies were among the biggest gainers in the S.&P. 500. Drugmaker Endo International rose 5.3 percent, and health insurer Humana climbed 4.4 percent. Aetna gained 3.7 percent.
ENERGY OPEC oil ministers ended a meeting in Vienna without reaching a consensus on regulating supplies. Crude oil prices bounced back after an initial slide. Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, to close at $49.17 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, added 32 cents, or 0.6 percent, to close at $50.04 a barrel in London.
Natural gas rose 2 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $2.405 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $1.63 a gallon, while heating oil gained a penny to close at $1.51 a gallon.
Shares in several oil drilling and exploration companies were down. Diamond Offshore Drilling lost 4 percent, and Transocean slid 1.9 percent. Anadarko Petroleum fell 1.8 percent.
IN THE CLOUD Shares of the online storage provider Box tumbled about 10 percent after the company reported disappointing results late Wednesday.
J&J BUYS VOGUE INTERNATIONAL Johnson & Johnson stock rose on news the company has agreed to buy the privately held hair care products maker Vogue International for about $3.3 billion. Vogue’s hair care products are sold in the United States and 38 other countries.
SEXY SALES L Brands, the company behind the Victoria’s Secret brand, rose 4 percent after it reported its latest sales figures.
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LAYOFFS PROXY The Labor Department said fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week, the third straight drop, in a sign that the job market remains healthy despite a recent slowdown in hiring. Weekly applications for unemployment aid dipped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 276,750.
WATCHING EUROPE In Europe, stock indexes were mixed after the European Central Bank said that its stimulus measures were helping the economy of the 19 countries that use the euro and needed time to work before any new monetary jolts are added. In Germany, the DAX ended slightly higher and in France, the CAC 40 closed down 0.2 percent. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.1 percent in Britain.
ASIA’S DAY The Nikkei 225 declined 2.3 percent in Japan after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to postpone a sales tax increase to avoid shocks to the faltering recovery. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent. The Shanghai composite index added 0.4 percent in China. The Kospi was up 0.2 percent in South Korea. In Australia, the S.&P./ASX 200 lost 0.8 percent. Southeast Asian markets were mixed.
CURRENCIES AND BONDS U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.80 percent from 1.84 late Wednesday. In currency markets, the dollar fell to 108.91 yen from 109.54 in the previous day’s trading. The euro fell to $1.1148 from $1.1186.
METALS Precious and industrial metals futures closed little changed. Gold fell $2.10 to $1,212.60 an ounce, silver gained 10 cents to $16.03 an ounce and copper was flat at $2.07 a pound.
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