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NEW YORK - A late-day surge pushed U.S. stocks sharply higher Thursday, propelled by a recovery in energy companies and bank stocks, which have been hit hard this year.

NEW YORK - A late-day surge pushed U.S. stocks sharply higher Thursday, propelled by a recovery in energy companies and bank stocks, which have been hit hard this year.

Investors also were encouraged by positive economic data, including improved orders for long-lasting goods that served as a sign that businesses were buying equipment and investing in their operations.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 212.30 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 16,697.29. The Nasdaq composite rose 39.60 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,582.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 21.90 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,951.70.

Stocks had been flat to slightly higher most of the day but added to their gains in the last hour of trading.

The market, as it has done for weeks now, largely tracked the price of oil.

West Texas Intermediate closed up 92 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to $33.07 a barrel in New York, while Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 88 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $35.29 a barrel in London.

"Oil and the stock market are going to keep moving in tandem like this until oil prices stabilize," said Jeremy Zirin, chief equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management.

Bank stocks got a reprieve Thursday after several weeks of downward pressure. The financials sector was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500. Morgan Stanley rose 4 percent and Goldman Sachs rose 2 percent, while big retail banks Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, and Citigroup were up more than 1 percent each.

Bank stocks have been hit hard this year on expectations that the Federal Reserve will now be reluctant to raise interest rates, which boost bank profits, and that low oil prices will continue to cause banks to write off energy loans.

"The fears about the banks are entirely about profitability. Investors were expecting the Fed to raise rates three to four times this year; now, we are looking at maybe one interest rate hike," Zirin said.

Bond prices rose, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note falling to 1.71 percent, from 1.75 percent on Wednesday.

The biggest gainer in the S&P 500 Thursday was customer-relationship management company Salesforce.com, which jumped $6.90, or 11 percent, to $69.42 after issuing an upbeat outlook for the year. Investors were worried because one of Salesforce's competitors, Tableau, had issued a dismal outlook earlier this month that caused its shares to drop nearly 50 percent, dragging down its rivals.

In other energy trading, heating oil rose 1 cent, or 1 percent, to close at $1.07 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline rose 4.6 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $1.056 a gallon. Natural gas fell 6.7 cents, or 4 percent, to $1.711 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In metals trading, gold fell 30 cents to $1,238.80 an ounce, silver fell 13 cents to $15.20 an ounce, and high-quality copper fell 2.8 cents to $2.073 a pound.