U.S. stocks jump amid economic data

U.S. stocks posted solid gains Thursday as investors digested a slew of economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 177.71 points, or 0.99 percent, to 18,212.48. The S&P 500 increased 21.49 points, or 1.01 percent, to 2,147.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index leapt 75.92 points, or 1.47 percent, to 5,249.69.

In the week ending Sept. 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 260,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 259,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

In a separate report, the department announced that the Producer Price Index for final demand was unchanged in August, seasonally adjusted, missing market expectations of a 0.1-percent gain.

The advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August were 456.3 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the Commerce Department Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in August, after rising 0.6 percent in July, said the Federal Reserve Thursday.

"Much weaker-than-expected control-group retail sales and weaker-than-expected industrial production point to another downward revision to GDP estimates. The slowdown in retail sales is particularly noteworthy, as control group sales have not fallen two months in a row since mid-2010," said Chris Low and Jay Morelock, economists at FTN Financial, in a joint note.

Investors also kept a close eye on the Federal Reserve' s two-day policy meeting scheduled to begin on Sept. 20.

Financial markets have been choppy in recent sessions on contrasting remarks by Fed officials ahead of the central bank's meeting. Enditem