U.S. stocks started higher on Thursday, as reports that more Greek bondholders were prepared to swap their debt eased some concerns over Europe’s fiscal crisis, but jobs data tempered the gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately was up 58.09 points, or 0.45%, at 12,895.42. The S&P 500 rose 8.28 points, or 0.61%, to 1,360.91. The Nasdaq Composite rose 17.08 points, or 0.58%, to 2,952.77.
The European Central Bank left its key lending rate unchanged at a record low Thursday, as expected, with investors awaiting Mario Draghi’s monthly news conference for clues to the institution’s next moves.
The Bank of England opted to continue with its 50 billion pound asset purchase program and left interest rates at their record low 0.5 percent at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday.
Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. But the overall level stayed low enough to suggest the job market is strengthening. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications increased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 362,000.
A sharp jump in sales of its luxury cars and sport utility vehicles in China helped German automaker BMW AG increase net profit by 51 percent last year to euro4.9 billion ($6.43 billion). The company’s sales also benefited from the recovery the United States. Revenues rose 14 percent to euro68.82 billion, as the number of vehicles sold in China increased 38 percent, to 233,600. Sales rose 14 percent in the United States, where the company sold more than 340,000 vehicles.
Oil prices hovered above $106 a barrel Thursday in Asia as investors remain skeptical that tensions over Iran nuclear program will ease soon. Benchmark oil for April delivery was up 28 cents to $106.44 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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