Stocks reach new highs as oil surges

A spurt in oil prices Monday revived energy stocks, which have been among the year’s worst performers, and helped push the broader market back to record highs.

Oil jumped on expectations that the global glut of crude may ease. A wide group of oil-producing countries has already cut production in hopes of supporting the price of oil, and Russia and Saudi Arabia said they want to extend the cuts through the first three months of 2018. Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.01, or 2.1%, to $48.85 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 98 cents to $51.82 a barrel.

Monday’s rise for crude helped oil-field services provider Halliburton jump 3% to $46.51, notching one of Monday’s biggest gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Energy companies across the index rose 0.6%.

Companies that produce metals and other basic materials, along with financial stocks, were also strong.

Snap jumped 8% to $20.74 after regulatory filings showed that at the end of March, Fidelity and BlackRock held shares in the maker of the Snapchat app.

The day’s rally continued a calm push higher for stocks in recent weeks. Markets around the world have been making modest, methodical gains as investors shrug off a long list of potential concerns.

A global cyberattack continued to spread, which sent cybersecurity stocks higher; FireEye leaped 7.5% to $15.90 and Symantec rose 3.2% to $32.

Signs of a strengthening global economy and improving corporate profits have largely been enough to allay investors’ fears.

“We do really see this prevailing sense of complacency,” said Jon Adams, senior investment strategist at BMO Global Asset Management. “I don’t think we see any dark clouds on the horizon, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 5 to 10% drawdown from now to year-end.”

Adams expects corporate profits to keep improving, which should help support stocks, but he pointed to several events that could jolt markets. Besides uncertainty about what will happen on the Korean peninsula or in Washington, upcoming elections in Britain, France and potentially Italy could also upset what’s become a lazy ride for markets.

Gold rose $2.30 to $1,230 an ounce, silver rose 20 cents to $16.60 an ounce and copper rose 2 cents to $2.54 a pound.

Natural gas fell 8 cents to $3.35 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil rose 2 cents to $1.51 a gallon and wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.60 a gallon.

The euro rose to $1.0978 from $1.0924. The dollar rose to 113.68 yen from 113.41 yen.

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up to 2.34% from 2.33%.