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Stocks are rallying and crude oil is soaring at a 3-month high

Mar 18, 2016, 19:02 IST

Investing.com

Stocks opened higher on the heels of the first positive year-to-date close for the Dow in 2016.

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Near 9:32 a.m. ET, the Dow was up 56 points, the S&P 500 was up 5 points, and the Nasdaq was up 13 points - all by less than 0.5%.

The Dow pushed into positive territory Thursday, with the S&P closing just 3 points from breakeven. The Nasdaq, however, is still down 4.6% for the year.

It's quadruple witching Friday, the quarterly date when both index options and futures as well as stock options and futures expire simultaneously. Such days sometimes have higher trading volume as traders scramble to close out their positions.

The economic-data calendar is light, with the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index due at 10 a.m. ET.

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This week was highlighted by the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates unchanged and reduce its forecast for hikes this year to two from four. Stocks spiked Wednesday and have pushed higher since.

The dollar has been getting crushed, however, falling more than 1% over the past two days. The dollar index was nearly flat Friday morning, reaching a low of 94.58. On Thursday it fell to its weakest level since October.

Crude oil was rallying above $40 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures up 1.7% to $40.94, a three-month high. Crude rose Thursday as the dollar weakened and as reports circulated of a meeting of oil producers to discuss a freeze agreement.

Baker Hughes will release its weekly count of US oil and gas rigs at 1 p.m. ET.

Refresh this page for updates.

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