(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished with gains on Thursday as a rally in financials and commodity shares boosted investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.96 points or 0.86% to finish at 8,750.24. The S&P 500 climbed 10.70 points or 1.15% to end at 942.46. The Nasdaq Composite gained 24.10 points or 1.32% to 1,850.02.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell 4,000 to 621,00 in the week ending May 30. Economists expected jobless claims to drop to 620,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, increased 4,000 to 631,250. Continuing claims for the week ending May 23 dropped 15,000 to 6.74 million.
Shares of commodity producers and industrials rallied. Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), the largest US aluminum maker, jumped 62 cents or 6.16% to $10.69.
Caterpillar (NYSE:
CAT) surged $1.36 or 3.71% to $38.02.
Shares of Boeing Co. (NYSE:
BA) increased $2.20 or 4.55% to $5.57.
Energy stocks finished higher. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:
XOM) rose 90 cents or 1.25% to $72.98. Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) gained $1.53 or 2.24% to $69.79.
Among financials, Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) soared 66 cents or 5.89% to $11.87. Shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) leaped 18 cents or 5.31% to $3.57. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) advanced $1.37 or 4.03% to $35.35. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) jumped 97 cents or 4.02% to $25.10.
Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ:
CIEN) said that it swung to fiscal second quarter loss of $503 million, or $5.53 a share compared to net income of $23.8 million, or 23 cents a share, in the year ago period. Revenue declined to $144.2 million from $242.2 million. Shares of the company rallied 61 cents or 5.54% to $11.63.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:
WMT) on Thursday said that this year it intends to create more than 22,000 jobs in the US.
Early on Thursday, retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) reported that comparable-store sales fell 7% while total sales fell 5% to $5.47 billion in the month of May from $5.77 billion in the year-earlier month. Costco fell 60 cents or 1.24% to $47.87.
Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) said that its same store sales slipped 9.1% in May compared to the same period last year. Macy's lost 44 cents or 3.30% to end at $12.88 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, chipmaker Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) announced on Thursday that it would acquire software vendor Wind River Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: WIND) for $11.50 a share in cash, or about $884 million.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England Thursday left their key interest rates unchanged at 1% and 0.5% respectively.
European stocks settled with gains. The UK FTSE advanced 3.52 points or 0.08% to 4,386.94. The German DAX and French CAC increased 0.20% and 0.07% respectively.
Asian stocks finished lower. The Nikkei 225 fell 72.71 points or 0.75% to 9,668.96. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong dropped 73.70 points or 0.40% to 18,502.77.
NYMEX crude oil for July delivery climbed $2.69 or 4.1% to settle at $68.81 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
