The bulls firmly regained control Thursday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 123.13 points to 12,904.08 after a barrage of positive economic reports hit the wire as well as news that eurozone central banks have agreed to exchange their existing Greek bonds for new securities.
The Nasdaq rallied up 44 points to finish at 2,959.85 while the S&P 500 added 14.81 points to close at 1,358.04.
The Dow is up 5.6% for the year.
Investors were especially encouraged by a surprising decline in weekly jobless claims, down 13,000, to a seasonally adjusted total of 348,000, according to the Labor Department. That marks the lowest level nearly four years and was much better than 365,000 claim most economists had forecast.
Also, the Producer Price Index posted its largest gain in six months, jumping 0.4% in January, after increasing 0.3% in December.
Here are some more details from Thursday’s trading session:
Dow Jones Industrial Average:
- Up three of the past four trading days.
- Largest one-day points & percentage gain since February 03, 2012.
- Highest closing value since Monday, May 19, 2008.
- An intraday high of 12914.00 occurred at 14:34:37 today, representing an increase of 133.05 points, or 1.04%.
- An intraday low of 12779.58 occurred at 09:30:01 today, representing a decrease of 1.37 points, or 0.01%.
- Twenty-nine of the 30 component stocks rose, one fell.
- Today's five best performing stocks in the index: CVX (11.50), CAT (10.82), AXP (10.22), XOM (9.76), MSFT (9.46).
- Today's five worst performing stocks in the index: KFT (-0.38), BA (0.45), MRK (0.91), T (1.14), TRV (1.14).
- Down 8.90% from its record close of 14164.53 on October 09, 2007.
- Up 97.10% from its 12-year closing low of 6547.05 on March 9, 2009.
- Up 4.76% from 52 weeks ago.
- Up 4.40% from its 2012 closing low of 12359.92 on January 06, 2012.
- Up 21.10% from its 52-week low of 10655.30 on October 03, 2011.
- Month-to-date: up 2.15%.
- Year-to-date: up 5.62%.
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index:
- Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market, 14186.08, up 171.12 points, or 1.22%, or approximately $203 billion in market capitalization.
- Up eight of the past 12 trading days.
- Largest one-day points & percentage gain since February 03, 2012.
- Highest closing value since July 07, 2011.
- Down 9.90%, (approximately $2.7 trillion in market cap), from its record close of 15745.39 on October 09, 2007.
- Up 108.62% (approximately $8.5 trillion in market cap), from the 12-½ year closing low of 6800.08 on March 9, 2009.
- Up 1.16% from 52 weeks ago.
- Up 7.42% from its 2012 closing low of 13206.64 on January 04, 2012.
- Down 0.85% from its 52-week high of 14308.37 on April 29, 2011.
- Up 25.55% from its 52-week low of 11299.07 on October 03, 2011.
- Month-to-date: up 3.83%, or approximately $614 billion in market cap in market cap.
- Year-to-date: up 8.96%, or approximately $1.4 trillion in market cap in market cap.
Data courtesy of Dow Jones Indexes.
