Energy stocks lift S&P 500 index near record high

Rising energy stocks helped nudge the Standard & Poor’s 500 index close to its record high, but drops for smaller stocks left U.S. indexes mixed Wednesday.

Markets around the world were broadly higher as investors got more evidence that the global economy is strengthening and corporate profits are climbing. The Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy is rising “at a solid rate” despite recent hurricanes.

Energy stocks led the market, and those in the S&P 500 rose 1.1%; that was the biggest gain among the sectors that make up the index. They climbed after the price of oil topped $55 a barrel to touch its highest level since Jan. 3, though the oil price later backtracked.

Estee Lauder jumped 9.2% to $122.12, the biggest gain in the S&P 500, after strong sales growth in China and Hong Kong helped it post a bigger profit than analysts expected.

The cosmetics giant joined the list of companies that beat analysts’ expectations for earnings in the most recent quarter. Nearly two-thirds of companies in the S&P 500 have posted their quarterly results, and most have topped Wall Street’s forecasts.

They have been reaping better revenue and profits as the economy strengthens, and a report Wednesday showed that private U.S. employers added more jobs last month than expected.

“What we’ve been waiting for the last five-plus years is stronger economic growth leading to better employment numbers, or one feeding into the other, and leading to stronger wage growth,” said Jon Mackay, investment strategist at Schroders. “We’re seeing the wage growth start to tick through.”

Other economies around the world are also improving, which further raises optimism. “Globally, it tends to have a self-reinforcing effect,” Mackay said. “People buy more goods from the U.S., emerging-market economies do better, banks have the capacity to lend more, and that leads to more capital spending and more consumer spending. At some point, it becomes overdone, but we’re not anywhere close to that yet.”

The weakest part of the stock market Wednesday was smaller stocks. They have generally been rising and falling in recent weeks with expectations that Congress will overhaul the tax system and cut rates. Smaller companies often pay higher tax rates than their bigger rivals.

Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 8 cents to $54.30 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 45 cents to $60.49. Natural gas was flat at $2.89 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.86 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $1.74 a gallon.

Gold rose $6.80 to $1,277.30 an ounce. Silver rose 48 cents to $17.18 an ounce. Copper rose 4 cents to $3.14 a pound.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.37% from 2.38%.

The dollar rose to 114.22 yen from 113.71 yen. The euro fell to $1.1620 from $1.1651.