U.S. stocks closed about 1 percent higher Thursday, with the Nasdaq breaking its intraday high set in March 2000. The dollar held even with the euro and fell versus the yen. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 53 cents to $60.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures jumped $25.20 to $1,202 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 180.04, or 1 percent, to 18,115.78. All 30 of the index's components rose, led by insurance giant Travelers, materials maker 3M, and consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 20.77, or 1 percent, to 2,121.21. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 68.07, or 1.3 percent, to 5,132.95, above its closing high set in late May and its all-time record high set in intraday trade on March 10, 2000, during the technology bubble. The index's biotechnology sector jumped 3 percent.
