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U.S. stocks end at record highs after ECB decision

Xinhua, December 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks rose for a fourth straight session Thursday, with all three major indices refreshing their closing records, after the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep its interest rates unchanged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.19 points, or 0.33 percent, to 19,614.81. The S&P 500 added 4.84 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,246.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 23.59 points, or 0.44 percent, to 5,417.36.

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.

ECB President Mario Draghi said later Thursday that the central bank could increase the monthly purchases if needed and that there is still no firm end date for the stimulus program

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 2.43 percent to 157.59 dollars apiece Thursday after the U.S. warehouse club chain reported stronger-than-anticipated quarterly results. Enditem