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Wall Street closed higher in choppy trading on Thursday, rebounding from a biggest loss over one month in the prior trading day, as investors took the dip as a buying opportunity.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average Index rose 55.76 points, or 0.38 percent, to 14,606.11. The broad-based Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index edged up 6.29 points, or 0.40 percent, to 1, 559.98. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 6.38 points, or 0.20 percent, to 3,224.98.
U.S. stocks opened little changed after an unexpected rise of last week's jobless claims data. The number of Americans applying for initial jobless claims in the week ending March 30 was 385,000, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 357,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The figure was much higher than analysts' estimate.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, a smoother indicator, was 354,250, an increase of 11,250 from the previous week's unrevised reading of 343,000.
However, the market began to rebound afterwards, as investors took Wednesday's dip as a buying opportunity, which continued to show Wall Street's impressive resilience recently.
The equity market was also boosted by remarks from Federal Reserve officials. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Wednesday that the Fed had room to keep buying bonds to support the U.S. economic recovery as inflation remained low.
Separately, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Thursday that rates could stay at rock bottom until unemployment rate falls to 5.5 percent from the current 7.7 percent as long as inflation expectations remain lower than the Fed's goal.
Besides, the market also gained momentum from a soaring Japanese stock market as the Bank of Japan pledged on Thursday to double its government bond holdings in two years, aiming to end years of deflation.
In corporate news, Best Buy shares leapt 16.07 percent to 25.13 U.S. dollars after the retailer said it would offer a 30 percent discount on its current stock of iPad 3 tablets in the United States.
Shares of Facebook climbed 3.13 percent to 27.07 dollars after the tech company announced that it developed new software to showcase the social network on mobile devices using Android operating system.
On other markets, the U.S. dollar weakened against most of major currencies on Thursday but it soared versus the yen after the Bank of Japan pledged to further ease monetary policy until inflation target achieved.
In late New York trading, the euro climbed to 1.2937 dollars from 1.2846 dollars of the previous session and the British pound rose to 1.5237 dollars from 1.5143 dollars. The dollar bought 96. 13 Japanese yen, higher than 92.87 in the previous session.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell for a second day on rising U.S. jobless claims data. Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell 1.19 dollars, or 1.25 percent, to settle at 93.26 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery dropped 0.77 dollars, or 0.72 percent to close at 106.34 dollars a barrel.
