Wall Street rose on Thursday, buoyed by data showing the US economy grew as expected in the fourth quarter, following a recent sell-off triggered by concerns over emerging markets.
Despite the day's gain, the S&P 500 was still down more than 3 percent for the month. Investors have been concerned that recent bold efforts by central banks in emerging economies to stabilise their currencies may not be enough to staunch an exodus of funds from those markets.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 67.75 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 15,806.54, the S&P 500 gained 12.8 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 1,787 and the Nasdaq Composite added 49.46 points, or 1.22 per cent, to 4,100.894.
Visa Inc shares rose 2 per cent to $221.45 after the world's largest credit and debit card company reported a 9 per cent rise in quarterly profit as more people used its cards.
Google Inc shares rose 2.6 per cent to $1,136.56 a day after Lenovo Group said it would buy the internet search giant's Motorola handset division for $2.91 billion.
Data showed US gross domestic product grew at a 3.2 per cent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, in line with expectations.
Separate data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but the underlying trend suggested the labour market continued to heal.
