Investing.com – Wall Street was higher on Thursday as investors shrugged off tensions over a U.S. military strike in the Middle East and looked ahead to the start of earnings season.
The S&P 500 was up 22 points or 0.84% to 2,664.42 as of 9:53 AM ET (13:53 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 277 points or 1.15% to 24,467.38 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose over 62 points or 0.89% to 7,131.74.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to respond to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria this week. He tweeted early Thursday morning that he has not yet decided on an attack.
Investors were also looking ahead to earnings season, which kicks off tomorrow with results from big banks JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).
Markets were little moved by data showing the jobless claims fell less than expected. The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 9,000 to 233,000, compared to expectations for a drop to 231,000.
Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers after the morning bell, with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) up 1.37%, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) gaining 1.96% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) increasing 0.97%. Financial giant BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) surged 2.70% after its earnings came in higher than expected.
Elsewhere Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was down 0.88% as it continued to face pressure over a user data scandal. Retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) slumped 17.77% after analysts decreased their price forecasts.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 101 points or 0.83% while in France the CAC 40 increased 27 points or 0.51% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up five points or 0.07%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 22 points or 0.64% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up 20 points or 0.21%.
In commodities, gold futures slumped 1.14% to $1,344.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.52% to $66.47 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.46% to 89.63.