By Saumya Vaishampayan And Dan Strumpf
U.S. stocks advanced Thursday, as European equities regained
ground and bond markets stabilized.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 141 points, or 0.8%, to
18201 in early trading. The S&P 500 gained 13 points, or 0.6%,
to 2111. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 31 points, or 0.6%, to
5013.
Other markets that had seen sharp losses in recent sessions also
regained ground. European stocks extended their gains as U.S.
trading got under way, with Germany's DAX snapping a three-day
losing streak to gain 1%.
Government bonds in the both the U.S. and Europe also rose. The
yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.245% from 2.283%, as
prices rose.
"It seems like some of the reversals that we've seen--oil
rising, rates moving up--are a bit more stable so far this morning,
and that's helping" support markets, said Michael Arone, State
Street Global Advisors' chief investment strategist.
Crude-oil futures slipped 0.4% to $60.27 a barrel, after rising
39% in the last two months.
Most stocks fell marginally Wednesday. The Dow slipped less than
0.1% to 18060.49 and the S&P lost 0.64 point to 2098.48.
Government bonds in the U.S. and Europe have sold off sharply in
recent sessions, leading to uneven trading in U.S. stocks in recent
sessions. The rout marked a turnaround from earlier this year when
the European Central Bank's bond-buying program helped boost
European bond prices to record highs.
With Thursday's rally, the S&P 500 is up 1.1% in May, while
the Dow has advanced 1.9%.
In economic news, jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 264,000 in the
week ended May 9, the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by
The Wall Street Journal had expected 273,000 new claims.
Separately, the producer-price index for final demand fell 0.4%
in April from March, the Labor Department said. When excluding the
volatile food and energy categories, core prices fell 0.2%.
Economists had expected both overall and core prices would increase
0.1%.
In other markets, gold futures slipped 0.2% to $1216.20 an
ounce.
The euro gained 0.4% to $1.1394, earlier rising above the $1.14
level for the first time since late February.
In corporate news, Cisco Systems Inc. said net income in its
fiscal third quarter rose 12% on revenue that increased 5.1%.
Shares gained 0.7%.
Shares of DuPont gained 1.6%, rebounding from a loss of 7.4% on
Wednesday.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com and
Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com
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