By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks resumed their upward move on Thursday as economic data underscored views U.S. monetary stimulus will be in place for the foreseeable future and as earnings offered some upbeat news.
Shares of PulteGroup Inc
Economic data showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell less than expected in the latest week, though analysts noted a backlog of applications in California. On Tuesday, data showed that employers added fewer jobs than expected in September.
The day's data also included a preliminary look at Markit's October Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, which grew at its slowest pace in a year while factory output contracted for the first time since late 2009.
Expectations the Fed will continue its stimulus have helped stocks all year, with the S&P 500 index up 22.8 percent so far for 2013.
The S&P 500 declined on Wednesday, ending its four-session streak of record high finishes. Last week's legislation to avoid a debt default and end a partial government shutdown gave way to a relief rally and speculation that the Federal Reserve will delay scaling back its stimulus for several months.
"You've got this underlying liquidity surge that's propping prices up, and earnings season hasn't been poor," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 95.88 points, or 0.62 percent, at 15,509.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 5.69 points, or 0.33 percent, at 1,752.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 21.89 points, or 0.56 percent, at 3,928.96.
After the bell, Twitter
Ford
Also on the rise were Apple shares , up 1.3 percent at $531.91, after investor Carl Icahn, in a public letter to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, called on Apple to commence a $150 billion share buyback immediately.
Third-quarter earnings overall has had its disappointments, including some weak outlooks and just 53 percent of companies so far beating analysts' revenue expectations, below the long-term average of 61 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
About 68 percent of companies are beating analysts' earnings expectations, above the 63 percent long-term average.
Among the day's decliners were Dow Chemical Co
AT&T, a Dow component, fell 1.8 percent to $34.63 while Dow Chemical lost 1 percent to $40.62. Xerox slumped 10.4 percent to $9.61 after a weak outlook.
Shares of Symantec Corp
Also after the bell, shares of both Amazon.com and Microsoft
Shares of Microsoft rose 5.6 percent to $35.60 after its profit rose more than expected.
DuPont
(Editing by Nick Zieminski and Kenneth Barry)
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