World Business

US stocks rally on strong earnings, job data

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-30 09:56

NEW YORK: The US stocks rallied on Thursday as upbeat corporate earnings and job data lifted market sentiment.

Chinese search engine giant Baidu soared more than 13 percent after the company reported first quarter results which beat estimates. It said first quarter revenues rose 59.6 percent to $189. 6 million while its adjusted earnings were $2.10 per share, much higher than the market expectation.

In economic news, the US Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 448,000 in the week ended April 24, a little bit weaker than expected, showing the improvement in labor market was still quite slow.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of new claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 1,500 to 462,500, increasing for a fourth straight week.

The US stocks rebounded modestly on Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve reassured it would keep interest rates at record lows for an extended period of time.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 122.05, or 1.11 percent, to 11,167.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15.41, or 1.29 percent, to 1,206.77 and the Nasdaq was up 40.19, or 1.63 percent, to 2,511.92.