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Roundup: U.S. stocks end higher amid mixed data

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks posted sizable gains after volatile trading Thursday, as investors tried to digest mixed economic reports ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 76.83 points, or 0.47 percent, to 16,330.40. The S&P 500 gained 10.25 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,952.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 39.72 points, or 0.84 percent, to 4,796.25.

In the week ending Sept. 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 275,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

In a separate report, the department said U.S. import prices declined 1.8 percent in August due to falling oil prices and a rising dollar, logging their biggest drop in seven months.

Prices for U.S. exports also fell 1.4 percent in August, exceeding market consensus of a 0.4-percent decline.

The strengthening U.S. labor market and falling import prices triggered market debate over whether the Fed should raise interest rates next week.

Uncertainty about the Fed's rate decision at its two-day policy meeting next week has contributed to the recent market volatility.

In corporate news, shares of Apple jumped 2.20 percent to 112.57 U.S. dollars apiece Thursday after the tech giant unveiled a string of new products including iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, Apple TV with Siri and iPad Pro.

Overseas stock markets saw a broad-based decline Thursday. European equities retreated following previous day's solid gains, with Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 Index dipping 1.18 percent.

In Asia, Chinese shares closed lower as heavyweight shares experienced weak performances, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going down 1.39 percent.

Japanese stocks dived Thursday on profit-taking after massive gains of the prior session, with the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropping 2.51 percent.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, decreased 7.09 percent to end at 24.37 Thursday.

In other markets, oil prices bounced despite a government report showed that U.S. crude stockpiles increased last week.

The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery moved up 1.77 dollars to settle at 45.92 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery increased 1.31 dollars to close at 48.89 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The U.S. dollar dropped against most major currencies as data from the country came out mixed, lowering market expectation for the Fed to raise interest rate this month.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1284 dollars from 1.1198 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 120.68 Japanese yen, higher than 120.56 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rebounded from one month low.

The most active gold contract for December delivery gained 7.30 dollars, or 0.66 percent, to settle at 1,109.30 dollars per ounce. Endit