Wall Street climbs as oil and volatility slide

The big picture. U.S. stocks close higher across the board. The S&P 500 rises 1.5% to 7,600.5, the Nasdaq Composite gains 2.1% to 25,913.9, the Dow adds 1.3% to 53,178.4, and the Russell 2000 climbs 1.7% to 2,981.9. The S&P’s intraday path trends up from 7,531.6 to 7,600.1, with a late push into the close.

Sector action is broad. Communication services leads with a 2.9% gain, followed by industrials at 1.9%, discretionary at 1.8%, and tech at 1.5%. Energy is the weakest group, down 1.3%, while utilities, staples, and health finish roughly flat to slightly lower.

Volatility eases. The VIX falls 0.8% to 15.86, while the VIX 9-day drops 21.2% to 13.28 and the VIX 3-month and 6-month gauges also move lower. Treasury yields also slide, with the 10-year at 4.686% after a 1.2% drop and the 30-year at 5.231% after a 0.8% drop.

Crypto is mixed but steadier than equities. Bitcoin edges up 0.2% to 63,581.0, Ethereum falls 1.1% to 1,862.8, and the total crypto market cap rises 0.1% to $2.3T.