(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished up on Thursday as stronger-than expected retail data fueled hopes of a recovery in consumer spending.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63.94 points or 0.69% to finish at 9,344.61. The S&P 500 added 8.49 points or 0.85% to end at 1,003.24. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 16.13 points or 0.82% to 1,983.20.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits declined 4,000 to 570,000 in the week ending August 29. Economists had forecast jobless claims to drop to 564,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, increased 4,000 to 571,250. Continuing claims for the week ending August 22 climbed 92,000 to 6.23 million.
The Institute for Supply Management on Thursday reported that its monthly non-manufacturing index for August to 48.4 from 46.4 in July. Economists were looking for an increase to 48.0.
Shares of Alcoa (NYSE:
AA), the largest US aluminum maker, jumped 46 cents or 3.98% to $12.01.
Equipment maker Caterpillar (NYSE:
CAT) surged $1.53 or 3.52% to $45.04.
Shares of financials finished solidly higher. Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) rallied 57 cents or 3.50% to $16.84. JP Morgan (NYSE:
JPM) surged $1.25 or 3.06% to $42.11. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:
WFC) soared 82 cents or 3.14% to $26.91.
General Electric (NYSE:
GE) gained 25 cents or 1.89% to end at $13.45.
European Union regulators on Thursday launched an antitrust probe into U.S. software maker Oracle Corp.'s (NASDAQ:
ORCL) takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:
JAVA).
Shares of retail giant Wal-Mart (NYSE:
WMT) rose 82 cents or 1.61% to $51.74.
Retailer Macy's (NYSE:
M) announced Thursday that its August same-store sales tumbled 8.1%. Shares rose 20 cents or 1.36% to $14.95.
Target (NYSE:
TGT) rose 80 cents or 1.73% to $47.07 after it said that its same-store sales declined 2.9% in August .
Costco Wholesale Corp.(NASDAQ:
COST) soared $4.34 or 8.57% to $54.99 after it said that for August, comparable-store sales fell 2%.
Gap Inc. (NYSE:
GPS) reported Thursday that its August sales at stores open at least one year fell 3%. Shares rallied $q.49 or 7.57% to $21.18
Shares of Family Dollar (NYSE:
FDO) plunged $2.67 or 8.62% to $28.32 after the discount retailer said that its August same-store sales increased 1%.
European stocks settled down. The UK FTSE dropped 20.80 points or 0.43% to 4,796.75.The German DAX and French CAC decreased 0.35% and 0.55% respectively.
Asian stocks finished mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 65.82 points or 0.64% to 10,214.64. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong rose 239.68 points or 1.23% to 19,761.68.
NYMEX crude oil for October delivery declined 8 cents to settle at $67.97 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author doesn’t own any of the stocks discussed here.
