Stocks blow big, early lead, finish only slightly higher

Investors looking for a catalyst to jolt the stock market out of its recent doldrums didn't get it Friday, despite soaring oil prices.

The boost in oil prices initially boosted sentiment on Wall Street and pushed the Dow up sharply in morning trading. The blue chips were up 153 points.

But the Dow moderated its gains to finish up 35 points, a 0.2%, after taking a brief mid-afternoon dunk in negative territory.

The Nasdaq composite wavered around break-even from noon ET on before climbing less than 0.1% into positive territory by the 4 p.m. close. The S&P 500 ended the day up 0.3%.

The correlation between oil prices and stock prices was evident again Friday as a 6.5% surge in U.S.-produced crude put stock investors back in a buying mood after a big sell-off Thursday that pushed the Dow down 174 points and landed the broad market back into the red for the year.

Energy stocks led the gains as U.S. benchmark crude gained $2.27 to $39.53  a barrel and got within striking distance of the key $40-per-barrel level.

Wall Street was still facing losses for the week. Heading into Friday's session, the Dow was down 1.4% for the week and the S&P 500 was off 1.5%.

A recent rally that  sent stocks back into the black for the year has stalled since the beginning of April. Investors are confronting several headwinds, including a weak profit outlook for the upcoming first-quarter earnings season and continued uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's plans for  interest rate hikes.

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Overseas, Asia markets diverged Friday. The Nikkei 225 index in Japan added 1.2%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index retreated 0.5%. European markets rose as Germany's DAX index was up 1.3%, and Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.9%.

Thursday, stocks fell  as the Dow lost 1% to 17,541.96 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 1.2%. The Nasdaq fell 1.5%.