Dow up 62 points after late rally

Stocks enjoyed a late-day rally Wednesday, finishing higher despite a new record price for oil and gloomy third-quarter outlooks from several companies. Volume was relatively light as investors awaited the government’s jobs creation report at the end of the week.

With rising energy costs threatening to dent consumer spending and corporate profits in the period ahead, oil and jobs have competed for the attention of traders on Wall Street. Many were looking ahead to the Labor Department’s September employment report, due Friday. If the number of new jobs created misses expectations, it could be troublesome for stocks, particularly retailers.

Analysts are also watching for positive signs in third-quarter earnings reports, following a series of profit warnings.

“What you would hope now is that we’ll see some upside surprises,” said Janna Sampson, co-Manager of the AmSouth Select Equity Fund and director of Portfolio Management at Oakbrook Investments. “That could buoy the market and help us take off. Until we get numbers out of those companies that haven’t warned, I think we’re somewhat directionless. There’s just nothing fundamental to drive the market until then.”

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 62.24, or 0.6 percent, to 10,239.92, making much of the gain in the final hour of trading.

The broader indexes also closed higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 7.57, or 0.7 percent, to 1,142.05. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 15.53, or 0.8 percent, to 1,971.03.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery settled 93 cents higher at $52.02, as traders examined weekly U.S. inventory numbers. Crude inventories for the first week of October were up 1.1 million barrels and gasoline stocks were also higher, but a 2.1 million barrel decline in distillate fuels, which includes heating oil and jet fuel, suggests consumer spending may come under some pressure this winter.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Preliminary consolidated volume came to 1.8 billion shares, slightly more than the 1.78 billion shares traded Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, was up 5.32, or 0.9 percent, at 592.66.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average gained 0.9 percent. In Europe, France’s CAC-40 dipped 0.2 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.02 percent and Germany’s DAX index added 0.02 percent.