Wall St gains on Trump's softened tariff stance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Thursday after President Donald Trump appeared to soften his stance on trade tariffs, easing trade war fears that had the market on edge for a week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 93.85 points, or 0.38 percent, to 24,895.21, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 12.17 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,738.97 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 31.30 points, or 0.42 percent, to 7,427.95.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by James Dalgleish)