Stock indexes gain; oil price rises

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Expectations that the Federal Reserve will be slow to raise interest rates after a weak jobs report last week helped send the stock market up Monday. A jump in the price of crude oil set off a rally in energy stocks.

The stock market was closed Friday when the Labor Department reported that employers added just 126,000 workers to their payrolls in March, the smallest increase since December 2013. It was another sign of weaker economic growth in the winter months and added more pressure on the Federal Reserve to put off raising rates from near zero. Historically low rates have helped stocks soar over the past six years.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 13.66 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 2,080.62. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 117.61 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,880.85, and the Nasdaq composite rose 30.38 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,917.32.

Benchmark U.S. crude jumped an even $3, or 6 percent, to close at $52.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.