U.S. dollar
slipped to a one-week low against the euro as German
inflation data helped lift the common currency.
And
oil prices rose with support from lower U.S. crude stockpiles and a halt to exports from Iraq's Kurdistan region, which offset pressure from a smaller-than-expected cut to Russian supplies.
"Investors seem to be increasingly confident the bank
turmoil is going to continue to ease and that we're near a peak
in central bank rate hikes," said Jeff Kleintop, chief global
investment strategist at Charles Schwab in Celebration, Florida.
"We're seeing this rally driven by stocks that are
sensitive to the pace of growth and inflation," said Kleintop,
who also pointed to climbing oil prices and weakness in the safe
haven dollar, which investors flock to when they are worried.
"Definitely a more bullish tone is starting to pick up here on Wall Street," said the strategist, though he cautioned that there could still be some volatility ahead.
Among
equities indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34.91 points, or 0.11%, to 32,752.51, the S&P 500 gained 14.85 points, or 0.37%, to 4,042.66 and the Nasdaq Composite added 68.98 points, or 0.58%, to 11,995.21.
The chip sector also extended Wednesday's gains as falling inventories at
Micron Technology were seen as an encouraging sign for the sector as well as the broader economy.
"If inventories have come down for semiconductors that
stands to reason it may have come down for many other products
as well," said Kleintop, who added that this "feeds right into
economic growth."
Beyond Wall Street, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.03% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.61%.
Emerging market stocks rose 0.66%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.62% higher, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.36%.
In currencies, the dollar index fell 0.438%, with the euro up 0.54% to $1.0902. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.20% versus the greenback at 132.55 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2372, up 0.5% on the day.
In U.S. Treasuries, benchmark 10-year notes were down 0.4 basis points to 3.562%, from 3.566% late on Wednesday. The 30-year bond was last down 1.7 basis points to yield 3.7613%. The two-year note was last was up 3.7 basis points to yield 4.1174%.
In commodities, U.S. crude recently rose 1.8% to $74.28 per barrel and Brent was at $79.20, up 1.18% on the day. Spot gold added 0.7% to $1,978.49 an ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.64% to $1,979.40 an ounce.
In crypto currencies, Bitcoin last fell 0.91%
to $28,094.00.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
World FX rates YTD Global asset performance Asian stock markets Whirlwind month for European banks ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Huw Jones, additional reporting by Tom Westbrook;
Editing by Sonali Paul, Sam Holmes, Christina Fincher, Alex
Richardson and Deepa Babington)
