The number of gainers Thursday on our Birmingham and Alabama Stock Report beat out the number of decliners, and two stocks of local interest led the way.

Medical Properties Trust led the way, rising 4%. The Birmingham-based real estate investment trust focuses on health care facilities.

Birmingham-based ServisFirst Bancshares was next, picking up 2.8%.

Overall, Wall Street ticked higher Thursday to trim its sharp loss for September after pressure squeezing it from the oil and bond markets relaxed a bit.

The S&P 500 rose 25.19, or 0.6%, to 4,299.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 116.07 points, or 0.3%, to 33,666.34, and the Nasdaq composite gained 108.43, or 0.8%, to 13,201.28.

A drop in oil prices took some heat off the stock market, a day after crude reached its highest price of the year. Treasury yields also relaxed to give the stock market more of a breather, particularly Big Tech companies.