Stocks Rally after Economic Data

U.S. stocks rallied across-the-board by mid-day trade on Thursday as the sentiment was bolstered by dovish comments from a top Fed official while a series of strong economic data releases also increased investors’ risk appetite.

At last check, the DJIA climbed 0.83%; the NASDAQ Composite Index jumped 0.82% while the S&P 500 Index gained 0.75%.

Delivering a speech over region’s economic growth and the labor market, the New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said on Thursday that the central bank will resort to more aggressive economic stimulating measures than the timeline set by its Chairman Bernanke,  should the economic growth and labor market falter.

According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose 6% in May to a six year high level.

The weekly first-time jobless claims fell 9,000 to seasonally adjusted 346,000 for the week ended June 22, said the Labor Department. Economists surveyed by Reuters expected initial claims at 345,000.

The Commerce Department said that personal income rose 0.5% in May, beating analysts’ forecast for 0.2% increase. In the same period, consumer spending increased 0.3%, in-line with economists’ forecast.

Shares of Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) climbed about 5% by midday trade after the business software maker, late last evening said that it swung into fiscal second quarter profit, driven by higher revenue from software licensing.

Shares of KB Home (NYSE: KBH) climbed about 3% by midday trade after the homebuilder said that its fiscal second quarter loss narrowed, thanks to rising average selling prices and home deliveries amid significantly improving U.S. housing market.

Sports gear maker, Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and IT consulting firm, Accenture Plc (NYSE: ACN) are slated to report quarterly results after the closing bell.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.