US stocks gain for 5th straight day, Dow +1.2pc

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks enjoyed more solid gains Thursday, climbing for a fifth straight session and shrugging off fresh data showing higher inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2 percent to end the day at 25,200.37.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1.2 percent to close at 2,731.20, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.6 percent to 7,256.43.

The gains suggest Wall Street is beginning to regain confidence after a major selloff earlier this month briefly sent major indices down more than 10 percent which is considered correction territory.

"The correction has seemed to end quickly," said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management.

The pullback was ignited after the January jobs report showed strong wage gains, which raised worries the Federal Reserve would accelerate interest rate hikes in response to increased inflation.

But the market appears to have pivoted and dismissed this worry, at least for now.

The Producer Price Index, which tracks the cost of wholesale goods and services, rose 0.4 percent in January, matching analyst expectations, according to the Labor Department report released prior to the market open.

Wholesale prices for outpatient health care and bus fares rose, as did gasoline, diesel, electricity, iron and steel scrap.

Among blue-chip companies, big winners included Apple, Boeing, Cisco Systems and United Technologies, which all rose more than three percent.

Technology shares were generally upward-bound, with Google-parent Alphabet winning 1.9 percent, Expedia 2.1 percent and Netflix 5.4 percent.

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries shot up 7.5 percent after respected US billionaire investor Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway, took a stake in the generic drug maker.