ECB Bond-Buying, Positive U.S. Jobs Data Sends Markets Soaring

4:10 PM, Sep 6, 2012 -- Stocks rallied Thursday, climbing to 4-year highs fueled by the European Central Bank's bond-buying plan. Adding to the upside momentum were positive reports on the U.S. jobs market and non-manufacturing growth. All 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500 were positive today, led by gains of 2% or more among energy, financial and technology companies.

ECB president Mario Draghi said the central bank's governing council has settled on a plan, Outright Monetary Transactions, or OMT, to address "unfounded fears over the strength of the euro." The ECB will demand conditionality in return for helping struggling nations, agreeing to buy bonds of between 1 and 3 years of maturity.

The ECB also left interest rates unchanged at 0.75% while the Bank of England left its benchmark rate unchanged at 0.5%.

The Labor Department this morning said first-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell 12,000 to 365,000 during the week ending Sept. 1, the largest decline in more than a month. Analysts were expecting a smaller 1,000 decline to 373,000. Private-sector payrolls rose 201,000 in August, according to ADP, which also upwardly revised its July payroll numbers by 10,000 to 173,000.

The positive job data had some analysts hinting tomorrow's non-farm payroll report could come in above the consensus 120,000, possibly pulling the nation's unemployment rate off its current 8.3%. U.S. employers added 163,000 workers in July.

Elsewhere, the non-manufacturing ISM index rose more than expected to 53.7 in August from 52.6 in the prior month, according to the Institute for Supply Management, extending a recent upturn and indicating moderate economic growth. New orders slowed slightly but continued to climb at a moderate pace, led by firmer export orders.

Commodities were mixed. Crude oil for October delivery reversed course this afternoon, giving back earlier gains to finish at $95.16 a barrel, down 20 cents. October natural gas settled 3 cents lower at $2.77 per 1 million BTU. Dec gold rose $10.08 to settle at $1705 an ounce while December silver rose 36 cents to $32.69 an ounce. December copper fell a penny to $3.52 per pound.

Here's where the markets stood at end-of-day:

Dow Jones Industrials up 244.52 (+1.87%) to 13,292.00

S&P 500 up 28.68 (+2.04%) to 1,432.12

Nasdaq Composite up 66.54 (+2.17%) to 3,135.81

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

Hang Seng Index up 0.34%

Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.70%

FTSE 100 Index up 2.11%

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) MW, Men's clothier chain reports Q2 earnings of $1.15, beating expectations by $0.03. Sales of $662.3 million were within $400,000 of the analyst consensus. Guides Q3 GAAP earnings in-line and sees Q4 EPS between $0.12 to $0.15 a share, or at least $0.02 above the Street view.

(+) OREX, Drug-maker receives Outperform rating and a $13 price target in new coverage at Credit Suisse. The stock also was getting a boost after OREX yesterday said more than 4,500 patients have enrolled in the Phase III trial for its Contrave anti-obsity drug candidate.

(+) MRGE, Hires Allen & Co. to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a possible merger or sale of the medical software company.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) PAY, Reports Q3 adjusted EPS of $0.75, beating expectations by $0.05. Revenues lagged forecasts by $5 million at $498 million. Sees Q4 revenue of $495 million to $500 million and earnings of $0.75 to $0.77 a share. The Street is at $0.74 a share on $520 million in revenue.

(-) OCZ, Warns Q2 revenue likely will be only $110 million to $120 million, well under the data storage company's prior forecasts calling for $130 million to $140 million in sales during the period. Analysts on average anticipate $134.35 million in revenue at OCZ for the period.

(-) WAG, Military health insurance plan Tricare keeps drugstore chain out of its prescription network. Also, August sales drop 4.5% to $5.85 billion. Q4 revenue falls 5% to $17.08 billion with same-store sales off 8.7%. Analysts were expecting 17.2 billion, according to FactSet.