NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market is bouncing back from a tough start to 2015.
Investors sent shares sharply higher for a second straight day Thursday, erasing the market's heavy losses from the first few days of the year.
The gains were driven by a combination of positive economic news from the U.S. and hopes for stimulus from Europe's central bank. The price of oil is also showing signs of stabilizing after six months of heavy losses, and there is renewed confidence that the Federal Reserve will keep supporting the economy as growth outside the U.S. appears to be flagging.
The wild swings in stock prices will likely become more common this year as investors try and anticipate when, if at all, the Fed will start to raise interest rates, said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.
"People will have to get used to volatility at a higher level," Kinahan said. It's going to be "one of the primary stories for 2015."
The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 36.24 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,062.14. The index is now up 0.2 percent for the year, after falling 2.7 percent in the first three days of trading.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 323.35 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,907.87. The Nasdaq composite gained 85.72 points, or 1.8 percent, to 4,736.19.
Comments from Charles Evans, president of the Fed's Chicago branch, late Wednesday gave stocks a lift. Evans said that the U.S. central bank shouldn't rush to raise interest rates, because inflation was likely to remain tame for several years, according to Bloomberg.
The prospect of more stimulus from other central banks is also driving the rebound.
European data Wednesday showed consumer prices fell in December for the first time since 2009. That increased pressure on the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to act to support the region's flagging economy.