The US markets ended higher on Thursday amid optimism that the Federal Reserve could alter its plans to aggressively raise interest rates in the light of some weak economic data. Some support came in as first-time claims for US unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined in the week ended May 28th, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report showed initial jobless claims fell to 200,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 211,000. Street had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 210,000 originally reported for the previous week. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 206,500, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 207,000.
On the sectoral front, significant strength emerged among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 3.6 percent surge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index ended the session at its best closing level in almost a month. Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, resulting in a 4.9 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index Retail stocks also moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index up by 3 percent to a nearly one-month closing high. Chemical, networking, computer hardware and brokerage stocks also showed strong moves to the upside, reflecting the broad based buying interest that emerged on Markets.
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 435.05 points or 1.33 percent to 33,248.28, Nasdaq surged 322.44 points or 2.69 percent to 12,316.9 and S&P 500 was up by 75.59 points or 1.84 percent to 4,176.82.
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