US stocks came off early losses to finish higher today as investors seemed to absorb unpleasant signals about the economy with equanimity and draw comfort from the notion that the Federal Reserve did not appear overly concerned about inflation.

Wall Street stabilised today, closing little changed although another spike in oil prices sent many investors to the safety of the bond market. Scattered bargain-hunting after the previous session’s slide kept selling to a minimum.

A consortium of two private-equity firms and a real estate developer has reportedly agreed to pay $5.7bn (€4.2bn) to buy all of New Jersey-based Toys R Us, the second-biggest toy retailer in the US.