Energy companies led a broad rally in U.S. stocks Monday as investors shrugged off another slide in crude oil prices.
The gain nudged the Dow Jones industrial average slightly above the 18,000-point mark for the first time since last summer, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose to the highest level in a year.
The market had been headed lower early on, on news that representatives from several major oil-producing nations meeting over the weekend in Doha, Qatar, failed to hammer out a deal to cut output. That sent the price of U.S. oil down 7 percent at one point; it ended down 1.4 percent.
Beyond the oil market, investors had their eye on the latest company earnings, which have been mostly encouraging so far, said Sean Lynch, co-head of global equity strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
“We’re seeing broad-based gains across all the sectors,” he said. “The market is maybe finding some resilience here and maybe looking back on the fundamentals of the earnings season and seeing it’s not so bad.”
The Dow climbed 106.70 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 18,004.16. It was last above 18,000 on July 20.
The S&P 500 index added 13.61 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,094.34. That’s its highest since April 14 last year.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 21.80 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,960.02.
For the year, the Dow is up 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 up 2.5 percent and the Nasdaq down about 1 percent.
The price of oil rose in recent weeks on hopes for a deal to limit production and ease a global glut. But weekend talks failed to deliver.
Saudi Arabia said it wouldn’t back a deal without Iran, which is trying to ramp up output as international sanctions are lifted.
All told, U.S. crude fell 58 cents, or 1.4 percent, to close at $39.78 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 19 cents, or 0.4 percent, to close at $42.91 a barrel in London.
Investors decided that expectations for an oil output deal had been very modest to begin with, said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
“The Saudis, back in January, had continued to point to June as being the OPEC meeting that they were really focused on,” Wiegand said. “Perhaps the expectations for something before June were misplaced.”
Hess rose $2.67, or 4.7 percent, to $59.84, while Marathon Oil added 35 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $13.36. Baker Hughes gained $1.90, or 4.3 percent, to $45.70.
Energy companies notched the biggest gain among the sectors in the S&P 500, rising 1.6 percent. The sector is up 7.7 percent this year.
Stocks in the health care and consumer discretionary sectors also posted big gains.
Major stock indexes in Europe also closed higher.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.7 percent, while the CAC-40 in France edged up 0.3 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.2 percent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.4 percent as a rising yen and quake-related production halts added to investor worries. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.7 percent. South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.3 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.4 percent.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.77 percent from 1.75 late Friday. In currency markets, the dollar rose to 108.82 yen from 108.70 yen. The euro rose to $1.1314 from $1.1288.
