US stocks rose on Thursday on rising expectations the forthcoming U.S. corporate earnings season would show strong performance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 84.54 points, or 0.70%, to finish at 12,170.56. The S&P 500 added 12.12 points, or 0.93%, to close at 1,309.66. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 38.12 points, or 1.41%, to 2,736.42.
A release by Commerce Department on Thursday showed that order for durable goods fell 0.9% in February. Economists had expected the durable orders to rise 1.5% last month.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to 382,000 in the week ending March 19. Economists expected jobless claims to drop to 380,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, decreased 1,500 to 385,250. Continuing claims for the week ending March 12 dropped 2,000 to 3.72 million.
Shares of Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) jumped $1.42, or 7.97% to $19.23 after the company unveiled a new dual-core graphics card. The company said that its GeForce GTX 59, which is powered by a pair of its Fermi-class GPUS, is the fastest dual graphics card on the market.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) rallied $2.91, or 7.46%, to $41.94 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Sands China Ltd., a unit of U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp., is in talks with InterContinental Hotels Group Plc about management contracts for two hotels in a Sands development project in Macau’s Cotai area.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) surged 73 cents, or 5.10%, to $15.04.
Shares of Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) soared $7.13, or 5.84%, to $129.25.
European stocks finished down. The UK FTSE rose 84.99 points, or 1.47% to 5,880.87. The German DAX and French CAC increased 1.90% and 1.41% respectively.
Asian stocks finished little changed. The Nikkei 225 slipped 14.46 points or 0.83% to 9,435.01. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong added 89.88 points or 0.39% to 22,915.28.
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