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U.S. stocks keep rising after ECB decision

Xinhua, December 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks reversed early losses to trade higher around midday Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep its interest rates unchanged.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36.31 points, or 0.19 percent, to 19,585.93. The S&P 500 added 2.24 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,243.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.83 points, or 0.33 percent, to 5,411.59.

The Governing Council of the ECB on Thursday decided that the interest rate on main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00 percent, 0.25 percent and -0.40 percent, respectively.

The European central bank also extended its quantitative easing program until December 2017, but will reduce purchases to 60 billion euros (64 billion U.S. dollars) per month. Current asset purchases of 80 billion euros (85 billion dollars) per month were due to end in March 2017 before the decision.

On the economic front, in the week ending Dec. 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 258,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department reported.

The four-week moving average was 252,500, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 251,500.

In corporate news, shares of Costco jumped nearly 3 percent around midday Thursday after the U.S. warehouse club chain reported stronger-than-anticipated quarterly results.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks rose for a third straight session, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 setting new closing records, as investors assessed the case of a December rate hike ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting. Enditem