Stocks rise on drop in jobless claims, rise in factory orders; major indexes hit 2009 highs

Stocks rise on upbeat jobs, factory order reports

NEW YORK — Stocks rose moderately Thursday after positive reports on unemployment and durable goods orders showed the economy is continuing to recover. Major indexes all touched new 2009 highs in morning trading.

A decline in the dollar also helped push energy and materials stocks higher. Trading was extremely light ahead of the Christmas holiday on Friday.

The encouraging signs on the labor market and consumer demand helped assuage investors, who were disappointed the day before by an unexpected plunge in new home sales last month.

New claims for unemployment benefits fell 28,000 to 452,000 last week, the Labor Department reported, the latest sign of improvement in the job market. It was the best figure since September 2008, just before the credit crisis peaked, and better than the 470,000 new claims economists had predicted.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories for durable goods excluding the volatile transportation sector jumped 2 percent last month, double what analysts were expecting.

Thursday’s modest gains cap a choppy week of trading. On Monday, stocks shot higher as another wave of corporate dealmaking boosted investors’ optimism. Two days later, stocks barely budged after the disappointing report on housing.

Stocks have managed to push higher this month, but at a more subdued pace. As the year winds to a close, investors have slowed their stock buying following a huge rally this year that brought major stock indexes up 60 percent since March.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46.63, or 0.5 percent, to 10,513.07. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.91, or 0.4 percent, to 1,125.50, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 12.96, or 0.6 percent, to 2,282.60.

The market will close at 1 p.m. EST Thursday and remain closed Friday for Christmas. Trading has been light throughout the week heading into the holiday, which can exaggerate swings in stock prices.

Rising shares outnumbered decliners by about 5 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 236.4 million shares, compared with 350 million traded at the same point Wednesday.

In industry news, investors will be keeping a close eye on health care shares after landmark health care reform legislation cleared the Senate, although some analysts think the sector could’ve fared worse in the bill.

“It’s come off fairly toothless from what it could’ve been,” Mitch Schlesinger, managing partner at FBB Capital Partners, said of the Senate’s version of the health bill. He said many big health insurers are still trading near their highs for the year.

A closely watched fund that tracks health care stocks in the S&P 500 fell about 0.2 percent in morning trading.

The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar against other currencies, fell 0.1 percent. Gold prices climbed back above $1,100 an ounce, while oil prices rose 65 cents to $77.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Commodities prices tend to rise when the dollar weakens because they become more attractive to foreign investors. A weaker dollar has helped keep the stock market churning higher in recent months.

Bond prices fell, sending their yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.80 percent from 3.75 percent late Wednesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.37, or 0.4 percent, to 633.35.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.5 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent. Germany’s market was closed for Christmas.