US indexes surge in early trading, led by oil companies as the price of crude climbs

U.S. stocks climbed early Wednesday, breaking a weeklong slump. Chevron and other oil and gas companies surged as the price of oil headed higher.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was up 140 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,904 as of 10:12 a.m. Eastern time. The early gain erased the Dow's loss for the year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 14 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,094, while the Nasdaq composite rose 27 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,042.

BONDS: U.S. government bond prices continued to slide. That nudged the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to another high for the year, 2.49 percent, in early trading. Long-term interest rates have surged in recent months as the economy shows signs of shaking off its winter slump.

CRUDE: Benchmark U.S. crude gained $1.12 to $61.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose $1.10 to $66.54 in London.

SPLITTING UP? Johnson Controls jumped 4 percent after the company announced that it was considering a sale of its automotive business. The company's stock gained $2.19 to $53.73.

EUROPE: Germany's DAX climbed 1.4 percent, while France's CAC-40 rose 1 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares added 0.6 percent.

GREECE, AGAIN: European markets have slumped this month, largely because of renewed worries over the financial future of Greece. The country's prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, hopes to make headway at a meeting in Brussels with the leaders of Germany and France. Greece has three weeks to reach a deal with its creditors before they release the money remaining in the country's bailout fund. Without the 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion), Greece faces the prospect of going bankrupt and dropping the euro.

YEN MOVES: The Japanese yen rose sharply after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the currency is not likely to continue falling. The dollar fell 1 percent to 122.74 yen.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2 percent, and South Korea's Kospi shed 0.6 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.1 percent lower.