NEW YORK—US stocks scored solid gains Thursday in thin pre-Christmas trade helped by encouraging data on the jobs market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 64.86 points (0.54 percent) to 12,172.60 in closing trade.
The broader S&P 500 rose 10.38 (0.83 percent) to 1,254.09, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 21.48 (0.83 percent) to 2,599.45.
Stocks were helped by new weekly data that confirmed a steady decline in jobless benefits applications, an indicator of slowing layoffs by US industry and government.
“This is great news,” said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics, pointing to a solid downward trend in claims for recent weeks.
“One unexpectedly low number can easily be a fluke; two are interesting; three are telling us something real is happening in the labor market.”