After an early wobble, U.S. stocks close higher

U.S. stocks rebounded from an early slide Thursday, nudging the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite to their highest close of the year.

Health care companies led the comeback. Energy stocks declined the most following a meeting of OPEC ministers that ended without an agreement on crude production cuts.

A late-afternoon reversal delivered the second gain in two days for the stock market in what’s been a muted week of trading. Investors have been on the sidelines waiting for clues as to whether the Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate at the central bank’s next meeting of policymakers later this month.

Many will be looking to Friday, when the Labor Department releases its latest monthly jobs report.

“It is the last major data point for the Fed to digest before they go into their mid-June meeting,” said Bill Northey, chief investment officer at the U.S. Bank Private Client Group.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 48.89 points to 17,838.56.

The S&P 500 index added 5.93 points to 2,105.26. The index is now about 1.2 percent below its all-time high set in May last year.

The Nasdaq rose 19.11 points to 4,971.36. That eclipsed its previous high this year on April 18.