By Nick Brown
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rallied on Friday afternoon ahead of a much-anticipated television interview with Saudi Arabia's crown prince, while Wall Street rose on strong economic data as U.S. stocks tried to end a rocky week on a high note.
Crude prices had been on track for a weekly loss, but spiked on Friday, putting oil in position for a gain on the week.
Energy investors were looking to cover short bets ahead of a televised interview Sunday by the U.S. news programme "60 Minutes" with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The prince will be "comparing Iran's Ayatollah to Hitler, and the battle in Ghouta, Syria, is ramping up," said John Kilduff, partner at investment manager Again Capital in New York. "You can't be short oil over the weekend with all that going on in the region."
U.S. crude
The S&P 500, which was down 1.5 percent on the week through Thursday, was trying to avoid its first five-day losing streak of 2018. Shares have struggled to weather a growing sense of turmoil in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and signs that protectionist policies could spur a trade war.
But those fears took a back seat, at least temporarily, to economic data showing U.S. factory output jumped 1.1 percent in February.
Retailer Walmart (N:WMT) was up around 2.75 percent, and Home Depot (N:HD) had gained nearly 1 percent, after the University of Michigan's preliminary reading of consumer sentiment index rose more than expected to 102.0.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 114.48 points, or 0.46 percent, to 24,988.14, the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 7.1 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,754.43 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 1.61 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,483.35.
European shares lost ground for the week, despite a modest gain on Friday, driven by exchange operator NEX Group's (L:NXGN) 30-percent jump after a takeover offer from U.S.-based peer CME Group (O:CME).
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index (FTEU3) rose 0.29 percent, and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (MIWD00000PUS) gained 0.04 percent.
(GRAPHIC: World stocks well below Jan record high, http://reut.rs/2pgTjNA)
Trade volume in U.S. government bonds was low and, save for a modest steepening, yields were little moved, as the market quieted in anticipation of next week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
The U.S. central bank is expected to raise interest rates at that meeting for the first time this year. "We’re looking towards next Wednesday," said Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst and trader at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
Benchmark 10-year notes (US10YT=RR) last fell 7/32 in price to yield 2.85 percent, from 2.824 percent late on Thursday.
The 30-year bond (US30YT=RR) last fell 14/32 in price to yield 3.0835 percent, from 3.061 percent Thursday.
The solid economic data, which bolstered the consensus expectation of a rate hike, also pushed the dollar up slightly against a basket of six currencies, with the dollar index (DXY) rising 0.11 percent. The euro (EUR=) was down 0.18 percent to $1.2282.
But fears of political tensions did not disappear entirely, boosting the safe-haven Japanese yen, which strengthened 0.23 percent versus the greenback at 106.13 per dollar.
The dollar had earlier fallen as low as 105.61 against the yen, the lowest since March 7.
Sterling
Euro zone bond yields kept falling after another European Central Bank policymaker warned that inflation in the bloc remained sluggish, a potential hurdle to the withdrawal of monetary stimulus.
