Stocks rise as oil prices stabilise

Stabilising oil prices and signs that the economy may be improving have pushed stock indexes higher.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 index, the benchmark for most US mutual funds, finished its third straight month of gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 95.89 points, or 0.8%, to close at 12,226.34. The Standard and Poor’s 500 rose 7.34, or 0.6%, to 1,327.22. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.22 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,782.27.

Oil prices fell to about 97 dollars a barrel as worries over the global oil market eased after reports that some Libyan ports reopened to oil tankers and Saudi Arabia was boosting exports. Prices surged above 100 dollars a barrel last week as clashes between rebels and government-backed forces intensified in Libya.

The Commerce Department said consumer incomes rose by the largest amount in nearly two years in January, thanks to a tax cut that began last month. The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, meanwhile, said that the country’s economic outlook has “improved considerably”.

All three major stock indexes posted their third straight month of gains. The last time that happened was in the three-month period that ended last April. The S&P 500 gained 3.2% in February, the Dow 2.8% and the Nasdaq 3%. Those figures do not include dividends.

A new round of corporate deals also helped push some stocks higher. Ventas, which owns senior housing communities, said it would buy Nationwide Health Properties in a 5.8 billion dollar deal that will create the nation’s largest health care real-estate investment trust. Nationwide Health rose 10%, while Ventas fell 3%.

Australia’s Equinox Minerals Limited, a mining company, said it would make a hostile bid to acquire Canada’s Lundin Mining for 4.9 billion dollars in cash and stock. Lundin rose 19% while Equinox fell 9%. Both trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The deals came just two days after Warren Buffett said in his annual letter to investors that he is “itchy” to make more big acquisitions for his company, Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire had 38 billion dollars in cash at the end of last year. Its shares rose 2.8%.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was unchanged from late Friday at 3.42%.