U.S. markets extend gains ahead of major job report

The U.S. stocks ended the second day of September higher on Thursday as investors get ready for the most-watched job report due out on Friday.

Recently the market has put focus primarily on economic reports. Mounting concerns about the health of the economic recovery pressured all three major indexes sharply lower last month, posting first down August in five years and the worst August since 2001.

But strong manufacturing data from the United States and China boosted sentiment, and Wall Street logged the largest daily gain since early July on Wednesday.

The rally continued on Thursday as reports from labor, housing and retail sale all sent positive message.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 50.63 points, or 0.49 percent, to 10,320.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.81 points, or 0.91 percent, to 1,090.10 and the Nasdaq ended up 23.17 points, or 1.06 percent, to 2,200.01.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the total number of people filling for first time jobless benefits fell 6,000 to 472, 000 in the week ended on Aug. 28, the second straight weekly drop.

As Thursday's jobless data fell slightly below the level economists had forecast, which was somewhat encouraging ahead of Friday's government monthly non-farm payrolls report that is closely watched by the investors. Analysts were expecting the August report to show the economy lost some 100,000 jobs, the third straight month of decline.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index, based on contracts signed in July, increased 5.2 percent from the previous month's downwardly revised levels.

In addition, many retailers reported surprisingly solid gains for August due to big discounts during back-to-school season, providing a glimmer of hope for the economic recovery.

Recovery optimism continued to pressure the dollar, which slid against the euro on Thursday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) earlier on Thursday left interest rates unchanged at one percent as expected, and extended its liquidity safety-net amid worries about vulnerable banks. But the market largely overlooked the ECB decision and the speech of ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

In late Thursday trading, the euro rose to 1.2812 dollars from 1.2798 late Wednesday, while the British pound fell to 1.5389 dollars from 1.5446.

In other trading, the dollar fell to 84.23 Japanese yen from 84. 46, dipped lower to 1.0146 Swiss francs from 1.0160, but edged higher to 1.0544 Canadian dollars from 1.0522 late Wednesday.

The upbeat economic data and a weakening greenback jointly pushed oil prices higher.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery gained 1.11 dollars to settle at 75.02 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for October delivery rose 58 cents to settle at 76. 93 dollars a barrel on the International Futures Exchange in London.

Source:Xinhua