(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) U.S. stocks shook off earlier losses to end markedly higher as investors focused on a slight bounce in oil prices and better-than-expected jobless claims data. Stocks were mixed earlier in the session as investors weighed economic data against bleak outlooks from several corporations.
At the closing bell in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased yesterday's losses and rose 226 points to settle at 17417 while the Nasdaq jumped 45 points to end at 4683 and the S&P 500 added 19 points to finish at 2021.
On Wednesday the Dow plunged 196 points as oil prices plunged almost 4% and as investors realized the Fed remains open to hiking interest rates later this year.
Kicking off the economic calendar this morning the Labor Department reported initial jobless claims for the week that ended January 24 fell by 43000 to 265000. The decline the biggest since November 2012 was much larger than expected. Economists had expected claims to edged down to around 300000 from 307000 in the prior week.
The National Association of Realtors also said pending home sales cooled in December with the index falling 3.7% last month far below estimates for a 0.6% increase. Though the year-on-year gain was 11.7% the highest since June 2013.
In corporate activity the earnings parade continued as () reported profit and revenue that beat expectations. But expenses rose faster than sales and the company warned during an earnings conference call of heavy investment in 2015.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) shares declined sharply settling down almost 9% after the Chinese ecommerce giant reported disappointing sales growth.
Ford () reported earnings that topped views today while revenue fell short of expectations. The automaker said it saw only benign impact from currency fluctuations.
(NYSE:RDS.A) missed profit estimates and announced $15 billion in spending cuts over three years due to the steep fall in oil prices.
() also announced plans to trim its capital budget by another 15% as the oil company swung to a loss in its fourth quarter amid declining prices.
Qualcomm () shares plummeted over 10% despite beating on earnings and revenue in its latest quarter as the semiconductor maker cut its fiscal 2015 outlook after a major customer passed on using its new Snapdragon mobile chip.
Amazon () and () are slated to report quarterly results after the closing bell Thursday.
In other news McDonald's () CEO Don Thompson is retiring after two years on the job and will be replaced by chief global brand officer Steve Easterbrook. The company's stock has been essentially flat since Thompson took over in July 2012 with net income dropping almost 15% last year. Shares jumped 5% on Thursday.
() is making Word Excel and other Office products free for Android tablets as of today.
European stocks followed Asia lower this morning weighed down by a sell-off in oil and gas shares and after the Fed took an upbeat view on the US economy showing no signs of backing away from its plan to hike interest rates mid year. But markets in Europe closed mixed with losses in the UK and gains in both France and Germany.
Oil prices ended slightly higher Thursday following Wednesday's 3.9% drop which was sparked by record high inventories in the US. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.2% to close at $44.53 a barrel but the contract earlier dipped as low as $43.58 its lowest level since March 2009. Gold for February delivery slipped 2.4% to settle at $1254.60 an ounce after the US labor market data.
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