NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday with the Dow soaring nearly 400 points amid hopes for the U.S-China trade talks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 396.32 points, or 1.58 percent, to 25,558.73. The S&P 500 rose 22.32 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,840.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 32.41 points, or 0.42 percent, to 7,806.52.
All the three major indices posted solid gains as the Dow had its biggest one-day jump in four months.
Boeing and Caterpillar, the two trade-sensitive stocks, rose 4.29 percent and 3.21 percent, respectively, when the market closes.
Shares of Walmart advanced 9.33 percent on Thursday after the U.S. retailer reported strong quarterly sales growth.
Market sentiment was bolstered as investors renewed hope that a resolution to the U.S.-China trade disputes could be on the horizon, experts noted.
Investors also digested a slew of economic data.
The number of initial jobless claims, a tracker for layoffs in the United States, was 212,000 in the week ending August 11, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday. The 4-week moving average was 215,500, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average.
Meanwhile, U.S. housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,168,000. The reading was 0.9 percent above the revised June estimate of 1,158,000, but was 1.4 percent below the July 2017 rate, according to the Commerce Department on Thursday. Enditem
