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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened with a bang Friday to stay on course for their fourth weekly gain in five, amid ever-more frequent anecdotal signs of companies returning to more normal levels of business in the wake of the pandemic.
By 9:40 AM ET (1340 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 322 points or 1.2% at 26,402 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both up 1.0%.
Stocks were helped by the optimism in the crude oil market, which rose on firming hopes that the global crude market will return to balance soon as demand around the northern hemisphere picks up.
Energy companies Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) and Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) jumped 3.8% and 4.1%.
The market shrugged off lingering signs of trouble with the Covid-19 virus. California, Florida and North Carolina all urged mandatory mask use on Thursday as at least six states set daily records for new coronavirus cases.
