The Dow rose 12.35, or 0.15 percent, to 8,212.49 after falling the past six days. Broader stock indicators advanced Thursday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.12, or 0.13 percent, to 843.74 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 22.20, or 1.49 percent, to 1,511.84.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 9.45, or 2.09 percent, to 462.62.
Light, sweet crude fell $1.88 to settle at $35.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Bank of America news more than offset any positives from a better-than-expected earnings report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. The banking company managed to avoid a loss, reporting earnings of $702 million in the October-December quarter. Analysts had predicted the company would break even.
Bank stocks still declined as the rest of the market recovered. Bank of America fell $1.88, or 18 percent, to $8.32, while Citigroup slid 70 cents, or 15 percent, to $3.83. Morgan Stanley fell 93 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $16.26. JPMorgan fell $1.57, or 6.1 percent, to $24.34.
Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.42 percent, Germany’s DAX index declined 1.94 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.84 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average dropped 4.92 percent.