Investing.com -- U.S. stocks closed broadly higher, amid soft consumer inflation data and gains from two prominent Wall Street banks after the release of the third quarter earnings on Thursday.
Dragged down by plunging energy prices, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the Consumer Price Index for September fell mildly from its level in August, while prices remained nearly identical to its level from 12 months ago. The weak inflation data provides the hawks at the Federal Reserve with little ammunition in their arguments to raise interest rates later this month, or perhaps even in December.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite index each gained more than 1% on Thursday, to end a two-day skid. The Dow rose 217.00 or 1.28% to 17,141.75, moving back above 17,000 after briefly dropping below the level one session earlier. For the entire month of September, the Dow traded below the 17,000 threshold. The NASDAQ also gained 87.25 or 1.82% to close at 4,870.10, amid a surge among biotech stocks.
The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, added 29.62 or 1.49% to 2,023.86, as all 10 of its sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Health Care, Financials and Energy industries led, each gaining more than 1.5% on the session.
Shares in Citigroup Inc (N:C) jumped more than 4.4% to 52.96, after the third-largest bank in the U.S. beat analysts' expectations on Thursday with its third quarter results. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (N:GS) also gained more than 3% in Thursday's session to close at 185.30, in spite of weak results last quarter.
The top performer on the Dow was JPMorgan Chase & Co (N:JPM), which gained 1.91 or 3.23% to 185.30. JP Morgan rallied from a sell-off earlier in the week after posting lower than expected quarterly earnings. The worst performer was UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (N:UNH), which fell 1.97 or 1.61% to 120.10.
UnitedHealth closed just below Wal-Mart Stores Inc (N:WMT), which lost 0.69 or 1.15% to 59.34. It came one day after the world's largest retailer suffered its worst one-day performance in 27 years, following subdued forecasts for the next year. In 2016, Wal-Mart (N:WMT) warned investors that its earnings per share could slump as much as 12% due to increased technological investments in its e-commerce business.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (O:ALXN), which jumped 8.41 or 5.51% to 161.07, after receiving an upgrade from analysts at Zacks. The worst performer was Seagate Technology (O:STX), which lost 6.27 or 13.15% to close at 41.53. Over the last year, shares in Seagate Technology are down mildly by 7.4%.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Southwestern Energy Company (N:SWN), which gained 0.73 or 5.82% to 13.28. Shares in Southwestern Energy are still down by more than 60% this year. Seagate Technology was also the worst performer on the S&P 500, just below Garmin Ltd (O:GRMN), which fell to fresh multi-year lows during the session. Earlier, the navigation tool maker lowered its third quarter and full-year guidance on Thursday. Shares in Garmin plunged 4.68 or 12.66% to 32.10.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,479-642 margin.