Wall Street traded higher Thursday on positive economic data and corporate earnings.
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest since January, a sign the labor market is deteriorating more slowly as the economy emerges from the recession.
Applications fell by 33,000 to 521,000, lower than forecast, in the week ended Oct. 3, from a revised 554,000 the week before, said the Labor Department on Thursday.
The U.S. economy is recovering at about the expected pace, and the risk of a double-dip recession has "diminished considerably," said Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Fed on Thursday.
Alcoa Inc., the component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, reported a 77-million-U.S. dollar profit in the third quarter, ending a string of quarterly losses. Costco Wholesale Corp. and Monsanto Co. also topped estimates.
U.S. retail sales rose for the first time in 13 months as September results at American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Kohl’s Corp. topped analysts’ estimates. Sales at Kohl’s, the fourth-largest U.S. department-store chain, rose 5.5 percent in the third quarter, beating a 0.6 percent projected decline.
The Dow Jones average rose 61.29 points or 0.63 percent to 9,786.87. The S&P 500 index rose 7.90 points, or 0.75 percent, to 1,065.48. The Nasdaq composite was up 13.60 points, or 0.64 percent,to 2,123.93.
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