Stocks Flower as Oil Curdles

Follow me, don't follow me, I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush. -- R.E.M.

Spines and orange crush aside, U.S. markets were in the mood to follow in the footsteps of others Thursday.

Emerging markets, and particularly Latin American stock market indices, continued to rebound from their sharp downturns earlier this week. The bounce is a welcome relief for U.S. stock investors, who had been dogged by worry that the concurrent drops in commodities and emerging market stocks meant a deeper global economic slowdown.

World markets shrugged off the commodity weakness and opened the door for investors to see the bright side of a strong start to earnings season -- Genentech (DNA Quote) being the prime example Thursday -- and another bout of strong economic data in the U.S.

Benchmark indices in Brazil and Mexico and throughout Europe finished up sharply for the day. The optimism spilled over into U.S. equities, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.6% to another all-time high of 12,514.98. The S&P 500 finally bounced as well, closing up 0.6% at 1423.82. The Nasdaq Composite moved up 1.04% at 2484.85 to mark a new six-year high.

Investors tested the 1411-1415 range in the S&P 500 all week, and it bounced each time, says Randy Diamond, trader at Miller Tabak. "An oversold condition was created, and following today's global rally, we got the bounce here."