U.S. stocks finished higher on Thursday, as all three major indexes rebounded from their lows to end about 0.5 percent higher. In world markets, European stocks closed lower, led by the CAC 40 in France falling 0.9 percent, while Asian markets also ended lower, led by the Nikkei in Japan plunging 1.5 percent. In U.S. economic news, the number of people who filed for first time unemployment benefits in the most recent week fell to 434,000, down from the previous week but worse than economists' expectations. Meanwhile, retail sales rose 0.5 percent in April, according to the Commerce Department, but the majority of gains came from increasing gasoline and food prices. The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.8 percent in April, which followed a 0.7 percent increase in March. The Commerce Department said business inventories rose 1 percent in March. Economists were expecting inventories to rise 0.9 percent during the month, after a 0.7 percent increase in February. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and versus the yen. Light sweet crude oil for June delivery rose 76 cents to $98.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $5.40 to $1,506.80 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 65.89, or 0.5 percent, to 12,695.92. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.57, or 0.5 percent, to 1,348.65. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 17.98, or 0.6 percent, to 2,863.04.
