NEW YORK: US stocks posted modest gains Thursday as investors digested a batch of economic data suggested the recovery is picking up steam.
After opening flat, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13.78 points (0.10 percent) to 13,207.88 in the first hour of trade (1430 GMT).
The broad-market S&P 500 added 3.34 points (0.24 percent) to 1,397.62, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 9.61 points (0.32 percent) to 3,050.34.
Wall Street sentiment was "continuing to find support from the US economic front, with jobless claims falling again and regional manufacturing unexpectedly accelerating, while a read on producer prices was roughly in line with expectations," Charles Schwab analyst said.
Before the opening bell, the Labor Department reported new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 351,000 in the week ending March 10 from 365,000 the previous week.
Wholesale inflation appeared subdued, despite a push higher from gasoline prices, according to the department's producer price index for February.
Manufacturing activity in New York state and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's Mid-Atlantic region continued several months of growth in March, the central bank reported.
Technology stocks were in focus.
Apple shone. Shares briefly topped $600 by one cent a day ahead of the arrival of its hot-selling next-generation iPad in retail stores in the United States and nine other countries. But an hour later, they were flat at $589.72.
Networking giant Cisco fell 1.1 percent after announcing it was buying Britain-based digital video company NDS Group for roughly $5 billion, including debt, from Permira, a private equity fund, and Rupert Murdoch's media and entertainment giant News Corp.
Stock markets traded mixed Wednesday, marginally holding onto most of the gains made in Tuesday's huge bank-driven rally. The Dow closed up 0.12 percent.
Bond prices were mixed Thursday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was unchanged from 2.27 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year rose to 3.93 percent from 3.41 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.