Big gains at Wall Street

The two-day rally pushed the benchmark S&P 500 and Dow industrials into green for the year

U.S. stocks ended Thursday, 08 January 2015 with the largest advance in three weeks, as two days of steady oil prices along with dovish comments by a Federal Reserve member helped further fuel a buying frenzy begun on Wednesday. The two-day rally pushed the benchmark S&P 500 and Dow industrials into green for the year and within a striking distance from record levels reached at the end of December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 323.35 points, or 1.8%, to 17,907.87, with all 30 of its components advancing. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 85.72 points, or 1.8%, to 4,736.19 and turned flat for the year. The S&P 500 added 36.26 points, or 1.8%, to 2,062.14.

All ten sectors finished the day in positive territory led by technogy sector.

Equity indices didn't waste any time after yesterday's rebound, extending higher in the futures market in reaction to evening comments made by Chicago Fed President, and more importantly, 2015 FOMC voting member Charles Evans. Presenting at the University of Chicago, Mr. Evans reiterated his belief that due to low inflation, the Fed should not rush to raise rates, adding for good measure that such move would be a "catastrophe."

World stock markets have rebounded from this week's sharp sell offs. The U.S. dollar index continues on its strong bull market run, hitting another 10-year high today. The Euro currency slumped to another nine-year low versus the greenback on Wednesday. The surging greenback remains a major, bearish underlying factor working against the raw commodity markets.

A day before on Wednesday hit a 5.5-year low of $46.83 a barrel, basis nearby Nymex futures. Traders are awaiting arguably the most important U.S. economic data point of the monththe U.S. employment situation report due out Friday morning. The key non-farm payrolls number is expected to have risen by 240,000 workers in December.

U.S. economic data out Thursday includes the weekly jobless claims report, the Challenger job cuts report, and ICSC chain store sales trends. Initial jobless claims dropped to 294,000 last week from an unrevised 298,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Market had expected claims to total 290,000. Weaker-than-expected economic data often boosts haven demand for gold.

Also, consumer credit increased by $14.10 billion in November, down from an upwardly revised $16.00 billion (from $13.20 billion) in October. The consensus expected an increase of $15.0 billion. For the last 12 months, consumer credit has increased by at least $10.00 billion per month.

The largest sector by weight enjoyed broad-based support. Apple spiked 3.8%, buoyed by reports of strong sales in China. Other influential sector members also posted impressive gains with Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft soaring between 2.4% and 2.9%. Even Google was able to end in the green after being down as much as 1.5% after Stifel downgraded the stock to 'Hold.'

Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Thursday, 08 January 2014 at Comex. Gold buyers were scarce as more risk appetite returned to the market place late this week. A sharply higher U.S. dollar index was also a negative outside market force working against the precious metals again on Thursday. Gold rose from earlier lows on Thursday and briefly turned positive after a slightly weaker-than-expected jobless-claims report, but still closed below its Wednesday afternoon level after a session of choppy trading as investors moved money into stocks. A statement from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi saying that the central bank was ready to expand stimulus measures also kept losses in check.

Gold for February delivery slid $2.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,208.50 an ounce. March silver fell 16 cents, or 1%, to $16.39 an ounce.

Crude oil prices ended higher on Thursday, 08 January 2015 shaking off earlier weakness, while Brent prices hit fresh multi-year lows but held above $50 a barrel. But natural gas prices jumped on larger-than-expected decline in inventories.

Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February rose 14 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $48.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices, which have slumped 8.4% so far this month, found some footing thanks in part to Wednesday's weekly U.S. inventory report that showed a surprise decline in crude supplies as well as expectations of a strong monthly U.S. jobs report on Friday.

Today's participation was in-line with average with 830 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Tomorrow, the Nonfarm Payrolls report for December (consensus 245K) will be released at 8:30 ET while November Wholesale Inventories (consensus 0.3%) will be reported at 10:00 ET.

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