Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were flat on Thursday, remaining in tight, range-bound trade, as the major indices on Wall Street received a boost from the energy sector after oil prices surged by nearly 3% to hit fresh seven-week highs.
In Thursday's session, WTI crude for September delivery soared more than $1.30 or 2.88% to $48.17 barrel, enjoying its sixth straight winning session. After briefly dipping below $40 a barrel at the start of the month, the front month contract for U.S. crude has rallied by more than 15% over the last week. It came as the dollar fell sharply to near two-month lows on Thursday, one day after the Federal Reserve sent mixed signals on whether it could it raise interest rates before the end of the year. Earlier this week, analysts from Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) predicted that the price of oil could hit as high as $69 a barrel by next summer helping bolster struggling energy stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 23.76 or 0.13% to 18,597.70, while the NASDAQ Composite index added 11.49 or 0.22% to 5,240.15, both remaining near all-time record highs. The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, ticked up by 11.49 or 0.22% to 2,187.02. On the S&P 500, eight of 10 sectors closed in the green, as stocks in the Energy and Materials industries led. Stocks in the Telecommunications sector lagged declining by 0.71% on the session.
The S&P 500 has failed to post a 1% move from the previous session's close dating back to July 8, underscoring the current pattern of sideways trading that has prevailed on Wall Street over the last five weeks.
The top performer on the Dow was Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which gained 1.37 or 1.88% to 74.30 after the world's largest retailer reported robust same-store sales last quarter and lifted its forward guidance on Thursday. For the three-month period, Wal-Mart recorded comparable store sales growth of 1.6%, its strongest quarter in three years. Concurrently, Wal-Mart experienced a strong period in its Food-General Merchandise division, as traffic rose for a seventh consecutive quarter.
The worst performer was Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 1.14 or 1.34% to 83.28. Earlier, the slumping construction equipment manufacturer suffered its latest hit when the Illinois-based company said retail machine sales decelerated sharply over the last three months. In July, Caterpillar's sales in the category crashed by 19% on an annual basis, following 12% declines in both June and May. Caterpillar has now gone 44 straight months without reporting positive retail sales gains.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP), which added 4.81 or 16.67% to 33.66. On Wednesday after the close of trading, NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) said it swung to a gain over its previous quarter amid continued expansion with its Clustered Data ONTAP technology. NetApp also generated $228 million in cash from operations last quarter, an amount the Sunnyvale, California-based storage device company is returning to shareholders through stock repurchases and a cash dividend. The worst performer was NetEase Inc (NASDAQ:NTES), which fell 5.74 or 2.69% to 207.59.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,063-897 margin.