U.S. stocks halted a two-day retreat as large gains by financial shares fuelled a rally among S&P 500 members.
The Dow Jones added 217 points, or almost 1.3% to creep above the 17,000 level once again to 17,142, while the broader-based S&P 500 closed up 1.5% at 2,024.
The Nasdaq Composite outperformed the pair of them, rising 1.8% to 4,870.
Banking giants Citi and Goldman Sachs kept the banking results ticking over. Citi (NYSE:C) climbed 4.6% to US$53.05 after its third quarter earnings topped expectations, as they have done in every other quarter this year.
Legal fees plunged to US$376mln from US$1.6bn the year before, contributing in no small part to a 51% increase in pre-tax profit to US$4.3bn.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs' (NYSE:GS) numbers came in short of analysts' estimates, but the market was in forgiving mood, as the shares hardened 2.9% to US$184.76.
Net income dropped by 36% to US$1.43bn, equivalent to US$2.90 a share, from US$2.24bn (US$4.57 a share) the year before.
The median forecast of analysts covering the stock was for earnings per share of US$3.
Stocks saw a cautiously firmer opening on Thursday, helped, somewhat paradoxically, by some underwhelming economic data.
The New York Federal Reserve Bank's Empire State manufacturing index for October stayed in negative territory at -11.4 from -14.7, while
the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index also stayed in the red at -4.5, having been -6.0 in September.
Jobless claims and inflation figures were a bit more in line with expectations.
“Both Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims have moved towards cycle lows (in fact, the monthly average for initial claims dropped to its lowest level since December 1973). Despite what was the worst jobs report of 2015, the weekly claims figures continue to suggest that the
US labor market remains tight; these figures are part of the bedrock of the argument that the Federal Reserve should raise rates sooner rather later (with later now coming in as March 2016),” opined Christopher Vecchio, a currency analyst at DailyFX.
"Elsewhere, the September US consumer price index report proved resilient, despite recent concerns that the next bout of disinflation is washing across the globe. In sum, price pressures in the United States remain muted, but they’re not fading as precipitously as markets previously anticipated. While it’s unlikely that the data feeds into the narrative that the Fed missed the boat by not raising rates in September, it will at least provide a somewhat-hawkish counter argument to recent economic trends,” Vecchio suggested.
A rising tide may lift all boats but it was not doing much for hard disk technology firm Seagate (NASDAQ:STX), which crashed to US$41.58 from US$47.80 overnight, after it flagged a 23% year-on-year fall in revenues.
The company expects fiscal first quarter revenues will be around US$2.8bn, below the guidance range of US$2.9bn to US$3.1bn previously issued.
Sat-nav company Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) was heading in the wrong direction, retreating 14% to US$31.55, after the company warned last night that the strength of the dollar would hamper revenue growth.
Video streaming outfit Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) tumbled 8% to US$100.33 after it blamed weaker-than-expected growth in US subscribers in the third quarter on the transition to the chip and pin system of payment.
Cigarettes maker Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) puffed up its earnings guidance a smidgen after third quarter revenues and earnings came in ahead of forecasts, sparking a 1.9% rise in the stock to US$86.04.
On the other side of the healthcare coin, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) fell 1.8% to US$119.91 on its third quarter update after declaring net profits not much changed from a year earlier.