Wal-Mart shares rose 1.7 percent.
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Shares of Wal-Mart gained after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results and upgraded its full-year earnings estimate. The stock provided the biggest boost to the Dow and the S&P 500. Crude for September delivery is now surging up $1.36 to $48.15 a barrel.
About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on USA exchanges, compared with the 6.4 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Investors also weighed up minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting that showed policymakers were divided over whether to raise interest rates in the near-term.
The minutes from the July meeting revealed that Fed officials generally agreed that it was prudent to accumulate more economic data before removing monetary accommodation.
“The market has reached a comfortable level and needs a fresh catalyst to send stocks higher”, said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in NY.
“The Fed was less hawkish than the market had expected. They would like to get one rate hike behind them this year because they’ve been too low for too long”. Seven out of the S&P 500’s 10 sectors finished in the green, with a 0.8% decline in telecommunications, limiting the run-up in oil-and-gas stocks.
“The unemployment claims data point to continued low layoff rates and a solid pace of job growth”, John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in NY, told Reuters. On Thursday, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said he would like to see another interest rate increase sooner rather than later.
In the latest U.S. jobs data, a Labor Department report showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell more than expected, down 4000 to a seasonally adjusted 262,000 for the week ended August 13.
On the economic front, jobless claims last week fell by 4,000 to 262,000, representing a one-month low, and marking the 76th straight week that claims have been below 300,000.
Twitter tumbled 5.8 per cent following a downgrade by Evercore.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.(VRX.T) shares dropped 2.7% after T. Rowe Price Group Inc.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.39-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.21-to-1 ratio favored advancers. On the Nasdaq, 1,245 issues rose and 1,006 fell.
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The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 23.76 points, or 0.13 percent, to 18,597.7, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 4.8 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,187.02 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 11.49 points, or 0.22 percent, to 5,240.15.
