AlHijjah 30, 1435, Oct 24, 2014, SPA -- U.S. stocks surged Thursday, with all three major indexes rising over 1 percent following news of the economy posting solid gains in September. In world markets, Asian stocks fell with the Nikkei in Japan falling 0.4 percent, while European markets ended higher with the FTSE 100 in England rising 0.3 percent. In U.S. economic news, the economy showed a solid gain in September as the index of leading indicators rose 0.8 percent last month, the Conference Board reported. Meanwhile the Labor Department said jobless claims increased 17,000 to 283,000 last week, following three consecutive weeks of declines. The dollar rose versus the Pound, the Euro, and the Yen. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery fell to $81.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose to $1,232.70 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 261.58, or 1.3 percent, to 16,677.90. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 23.71, or 1.2 percent, to 1,950.82. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 69.94, or 1.6 percent, to 4,452.79.
