U.S. Stocks Soar Toward First Weekly Gains In Four Weeks

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks sailed higher Thursday, looking to score a first-in-four broad-based weekly gain, boosted by better earnings than anticipated at Nike Inc. and a not-so-bad decline in the Philadelphia area's manufacturing activity.

"The data are better than expected ... and that should give stocks a little lift," said analysts at Action Economics.

Continuing a recent trend of triple-digit swings, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 240.57 points, or 2%, to 12,340.23, readying it for a more than 3% rise from the prior week's close. The U.S. stock market is closed Friday.

Of the Dow's 30 components, 27 were trading higher, with blue-chip gains led by the financials. American Express Co. was ahead 9% and Citigroup Inc. gained 7.9%. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. advanced 7.8% and American International Group Inc. rose 5.7%.

Off the Dow, shares of Merrill Lynch Co. Inc. climbed 10.7% and Visa Inc. gained nearly 15%, one day after the credit card giant's market debut.

Technology stocks also bolstered the blue-chip index, with Intel Corp. up 2.7% after its board increased its quarterly dividend about 10%.

The S&P 500 Index gained 28.90 points, or 2.2%, to 1,327.32, which puts the index 3% ahead of where it stood at last Friday's close.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 43.90 points, or 2%, to 2,253.97, up 1.9% from last week's close.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange proved heavy, with 4.6 billion shares exchanged and advancing stocks topping decliners nearly 3 to 1. On the Nasdaq, 2.1 billion shares were exchanged, and advancing stocks outpaced declining issues 2 to 1.

Heavy metal

The commodity-price downturn continued much of Thursday, with crude-oil futures for May delivery closing down 70 cents at $101.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. .

News that financial firm CIT Group Inc. would need to tap its $7.3 billion credit line to repay debt sent its shares plunging 27% and further stoked demand for bonds, with short-term Treasury bills rallying as investors liquidated positions in commodities.

The yield of a one-month Treasury bill recently slid 90 basis points, or nearly 1%. .

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, recently stood at 72.73, up from 72.103 late Wednesday but down from a high of 72.92 earlier in the session. .

Ahead of the opening bell, the Labor Department reported jobless claims climbed 22,000 to stand at 378,000 last week amid ongoing weakness in the labor market. .

But other data had the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reporting manufacturing in the region climbing to negative 17.4 in March from negative 24 in February, with the results somewhat better than expected.

Separately, the U.S. leading indicators index declined 0.3% in February, with a revised 0.4% decline in January, marking the fifth-straight monthly drop.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks fell almost 300 points, with oil producers and miners dragging down markets in the wake of the worst one-day dollar decline for gold in 28 years, as well as the biggest one-day loss for oil in 17 years.

Active issues

Nike was up 7% after the sneaker maker reported a better than forecast 32% jump in quarterly profit, driven by European and Asian sales.

Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both jumped after the companies were upgraded to outperform by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Credit Suisse Group tumbled after warning of a first-quarter loss, becoming one of the first major banks to reveal a tough environment during March.

Several Asian markets were closed Thursday, but there were losses of more than 3% for the key indexes in Hong Kong and Australia. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.5%.

By Kate Gibson