U.S. stocks finished higher Thursday, as investors welcomed the European Central Bank (ECB) plan to extend its stimulus measures and keep buying government bonds. In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors said its spending home sales index surged 10.4 percent in October after falling 1.8 percent in September. The index, which measures sales contracts for existing homes, was expected to be unchanged. The housing report overshadowed a slightly worse than expected report on jobless claims, where the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing for first time unemployment rose to 436,000 last week. Economists expected 422,000 new claims. Investors anticipate the government key monthly jobs report due Friday, where employers are expected to have added 130,000 jobs in November after adding 151,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 9.6 percent. In company news, food and beverage giant PepsiCo said it would buy Russian food and beverage company Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (WBD) for about $3.8 billion. The purchase will establish PepsiCo as the largest food and beverage business in Russia. The U.S. dollar fell against the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for January delivery gained $1.25 to $88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $1 to $1,389.30 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 106.63, or 1.0 percent, to 11,362.41. All but three of the 30 Dow components finished higher, with Bank of America, Alcoa, and Home Depot leading advances. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15.46, or 1.3 percent, to 1,221.53. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 29.92, or 1.2 percent, to 2,579.35.
