Stocks closed higher on Thursday but struggled to maintain earlier gains as initial enthusiasm over weak economic reports and a tobacco-led rise in the Dow industrials were overshadowed by anxiety over Friday's report on U.S. job creation. In the current climate of bad economic news being good news for the market, the morning's weak economic reports helped stocks. Weak reports ease fears of inflation and reduce the chances the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates. The Institute for Supply Management's service-sector index, which measures economic conditions in the non-manufacturing sector, fell to 57 in June from 60.1 in May. It was the lowest level since January and below economists' forecasts. June retail sales were somewhat weak as high gasoline prices and bad weather kept consumers from shopping, and jobless claims were little changed from the previous week. Oil slipped from its record high set Wednesday, but not by much. Light sweet crude fell 5 cents to $75.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a U.S. government report showed an unexpected buildup in weekly gasoline inventories. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 73.48, or 0.7 percent, to 11,225.30. However, much of that gain was due to one stock, Altria, which jumped 5 percent after the Florida Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision to reject a $145 billion punitive-damage award against big tobacco companies. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.17, or 0.25 percent, to 1,274.08. Other tobacco firms were higher, including Reynolds American, which rose 3 percent, and Loewes Corporation, which gained 1 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 1.75, or 0.1 percent, to 2,155.09. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 33.90 to 8,197.84. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 18.79 to 1,956.93. And the Russell 2000 index rose 0.79 to 720.64.
