U.S. stocks rallied strongly on Thursday with the Dow closing above the 10,000 level, after a bigger-than-expected drop in jobless claims and a number of retailers reporting positive October sales. Gold was stronger again but oil and metals lost some ground.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 204 points to 10,006. The S&P500 Index added 20 points to 1,067 and the NASDAQ improved 50 points to 2,105.
The major economic news of the day was: The Labor Department reporting that new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 512,000 last week from 532,000 the previous week. The result was much better than the market was expecting.
Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a week or more, fell to 5.749 million from 5.817 million the week before although the decline could mean people are running out of benefits rather than indicating that they have found a job. Also Thursday the U.S. Senate agreed to extend unemployment benefits by up to 20 weeks.
Tomorrow will see the release of the much anticipated Labor Department's October jobs report which will show how many employees lost their jobs in the month. A separate report will also show the unemployment rate which is expected to hit 9.9%.
In company news:Shares in Cisco Systems (NYSE:CSCO) closed 2.75% higher at $23.93 on Thursday. After the closing bell on Wednesday, Cisco reported quarterly earnings and revenue that came in weaker than a year before but that beat estimates. CEO John Chambers said current-quarter revenue would top estimates and that business conditions had bottomed at least six months ago.
Costco Wholesale (NYSE:COST) shares improved 1.02% to $59.41. The discount warehouse retailer said sales at stores open a year or more rose 5% during October. The result beat forecasts for a rise of 4.7%. Costco was one of the few retailers to report increases in both traffic and transaction size.
Gap (NYSE:GPS) shares gained 3.49% to $22.86. The retailer reported October sales that rose 4% during the month. The result came in better than expected.
Shares in Toyota (NYSE:TM) increased 1.41% to $80.58 as the automaker reported a surprise quarterly profit and cut its annual loss forecast by over 50%. The day earlier Toyota announced it was pulling out of Formula One racing as part of plans to cut costs as it begins to recover with that move alone saving around $300 million.
In the NASDAQ Top 100: Wynn Resorts was the best performer, adding 8.27% to $59.84, Followed by Joy Global and DirecTV. The biggest drag was Sears Holdings, down 1.81% to $66.89 followed by Urban Outfitters and First Solar.
