By Dan Strumpf And Saumya Vaishampayan
U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday, as European equities regained
ground and bond markets stabilized.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 146 points, or 0.8%, to
18206. The S&P 500 gained 14 points, or 0.7%, to 2112. The
Nasdaq Composite Index added 44 points, or 0.9%, to 5025.
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 2%.
Government bonds in the both the U.S. and Europe also rose. The
yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.250% 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.
Government bonds in the U.S. and Europe have sold off sharply in
recent sessions, leading to uneven trading in U.S. stocks. 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.
But signs of stability in those markets helped put a floor under
stocks Thursday, returning major stock benchmarks to near-record
highs. With Thursday's rally, the S&P 500 is up 1.1% in May,
while the Dow has advanced 1.9%.
"I think it's a return to some level of normalcy," said Brian
Fenske, head of sales trading at ITG, describing stock investors'
behavior Thursday.
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.
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.
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 gained 0.3% to $1221 an
ounce.
In corporate news, Cisco Systems Inc. said net income in its
fiscal third quarter rose 12% on revenue that increased 5.1%.
Shares fell 0.7%.
Shares of DuPont gained 1.3%, rebounding from a loss of 7.4% on
Wednesday.
Write to Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com and Saumya
Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Cisco Systems, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US17275R1023
Access Investor Kit for The Dow Chemical Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US2605431038
Access Investor Kit for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US2635341090