Stocks rose Thursday as Wall Street attempts to halt its recent 3-day downturn despite another drop in oil prices. Investors have been confronting a variety of worries this week including plunging oil prices and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will begin raising interest rates for the first time in almost a decade at its meeting next week. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has signaled the time is near to raise rates that have been near zero since the financial crisis of 2008.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up about 75 points, or 0.4%, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 0.4%. Oil prices fell back below $37 a barrel as U.S. benchmark crude was down 0.8% to $36.87. European markets were mixed as Germany’s DAX index rose 0.1% and britain’s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.6%. Asian markets dropped as Japan’s Nikkei 225 index tumbled 1.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.5%. The Shanghai composite index also lost 0.5%.
New Zealand’s central bank cut interest rates for the fourth time in six months by a quarter percentage point to 2.5%, but also signaled that it is not planning further cuts as inflation is expected to rise. Analysts said it was the latest sign that the central banks in developed countries, from Europe to Japan and the United States, are done with monetary easing. An early stock rally faded Wednesday as the Dow closed 75 points lower and the S&P 500 slid 16 points.