U.S. market indexes were higher on Thursday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17929.99 for a gain of 235.31 points or 1.33 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2098.86 for a gain of 28.09 points or 1.36 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 4842.67 for a gain of 63.43 points or 1.33 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 16.15 for a loss of -0.49 points or -2.94 percent.

Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Thursday’s Market Movers

The leading U.S. economic report on Thursday was the Jobless Claims report which showed claims increasing slightly to 10,000 for the week after the prior week’s report was revised to -19,000. With the week’s report, jobless claims are at 268,000 which is just above consensus of 266,000.

Next week the June employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics will be key for the directional focus of the economy. U.S. stocks have been steadily improving with earnings showing some modest gains from the previous year and GDP revised up this week to 1.1 percent SAAR which means a positive jobs report next week could provide for good momentum in the second half of the year.

For the day, stocks trading actively with gains included Bank of America, General Electric, Mondelez International Inc., Citigroup, Intel and Apple.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, stocks leading gains included the following:

Gains (percent)

General Electric 3.11

Intel 2.72

International Business Machines 2.3

Boeing 2.27

Top sectors for the broad market were consumer staples and utilities. In technology, the Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 4842.67 for a gain of 63.43 points or 1.33 percent. The Nasdaq 100 was also higher at 4417.70 for a gain of 52.96 points or 1.21 percent. Top stocks leading in technology for the day included:

Gains (percent)

NetEase Inc. 6.47

Paychex Inc. 5.97

Discovery Communications Inc. 4.76

Liberty Media Corp. 4.49

In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.68 points or 0.54 percent. Currencies traded actively for the day with the U.S. Dollar Index higher at 95.89 for a gain of 0.24 points or 0.25 percent. The euro and pound weakened further against the dollar in trading on Thursday. The dollar was worth 1.1099 euros and 1.3332 pounds.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 followed the day’s trend higher closing at 1151.92 for a gain of 20.31 points or 1.79 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 708.36 for a gain of 14.49 points or 2.09 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7056.28 for a gain of 114.37 points or 1.65 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8362.29 for a gain of 155.97 points or 1.90 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1496.50 for a gain of 28.30 points or 1.93 percent; the S&P 100 closing at 928.13 for a gain of 11.31 points or 1.23 percent; the Russell 3000 closing at 1236.62 for a gain of 17.01 points or 1.39 percent; the Russell 1000 closing at 1161.57 for a gain of 15.62 points or 1.36 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 611.90 for a gain of 11.75 points or 1.96 percent.