US stocks showed another significant move to the upside during trading on Thursday. The major averages all posted strong gains, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 extending their winning streaks to six days. The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained sharply higher. The Nasdaq soared 401.89 points or 2.3 percent to 17,594.50, the S&P 500 surged 88.01 points or 1.6 percent to 5,543.22 and the Dow jumped 554.67 points or 1.4 percent to 40,563.06.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing much stronger than expected retail sales growth in July, easing concerns about the economic outlook. The Commerce Department said retail sales jumped by 1.0 percent in July after edging down by a revised 0.2 percent in June. Excluding a surge in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales still rose by 0.4 percent in July after climbing by 0.8 percent in June. Ex-auto sales were expected to inch up by 0.1 percent.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing an unexpected decline by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 10th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 227,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 234,000.
Meanwhile, US treasuries pulled back sharply after moving notably higher over the past several sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, shot up by 10.6 basis points to 3.926 percent. Meanwhile, the dollar index traded around 103 on Friday after gaining half a percent in the previous session, underpinned by better-than-expected US economic data which suggested that recession fears were overblown.
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