Stocks roll: Dow up 6 days now as S&P 500 turns positive for 2016

Stocks jumped Friday as Wall Street continued its recent rally with the Dow Jones industrial average rising for a sixth straight day as it pushed further into positive territory for the year.

The rally also boosted the Standard & Poor's 500 index back into the black for 2016 after briefly turning positive Thursday.

The Dow gained 121 points, or 0.7%, to finish at 17,602 for its second straight close in the black for 2016. The S&P rose 0.4% to 2050 -- its first close above the 2044 level where it ended 2015. The Nasdaq also gained 0.4%, but still remains about 4% in the red for 2016.

Friday was the sixth straight up session for the Dow. It also marked the fifth consecutive weekly gain for the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq in what has been a remarkable comeback that saw the Dow gain more than 1,900 points from its 2016 low in early February.

An improvement in oil prices has helped boost financial markets as benchmark U.S. crude jumped above $41 in early trading before pulling back. West Texas intermediate was trading flat at $40.20 a barrel after closing Thursday above $40 for the first time since early December. Oil is now up more than 50% since plunging to a 13-year low of $26.21 on Feb. 11.

Feb. 11 also was the 2016 low for the stock market. Since then easing concerns about slowing growth in China, as well as a possible U.S. recession, have triggered an explosive rally that in five weeks wiped out Wall Street's worst start ever to a year.

Although the Dow and S&P are up just slightly for the 2016, the gains from the February bottom would have qualified as a good full year in terms of stock performance, with the Dow and S&P both up more than 12% in that time. And in dollar terms, some $2.8 trillion in stock wealth has been restored.

Global stocks were mostly higher with Japan being the major exception. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.3% to close at 16,724.81 as the yen’s strength worried investors.

But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.8% to 20,671.63 and the Shanghai composite index jumped 1.7% to finish at 2,955.15.

Germany's DAX index was up 0.3% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.3%.

Contributing: Associated Press

Jane Onyanga-Omara on Twitter: @janeomara.