U.S stocks rise on falling jobless claims; Dow gains 0.17%

U.S. stocks finished Wednesday higher after the U.S. government reported that jobless claims came in lower than expected last week.

At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.17%, the S&P 500 index was up 0.40%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.62%.

In the U.S. earlier, the Department of Labor reported that the number of people filing for initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 to 339,000, last week, outpacing market expectations for a drop of 4,000 to 351,000.

Jobless claims for the preceding week were revised up to 355,000 from a previously reported increase of 352,000.

The numbers sent traders snapping up equities, especially after better-than-expected earnings hit the wire.

Earlier Thursday, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and UPS released earnings reports that topped market expectations, among others.

Trading as was somewhat cautious, as investors kept an eye out for gross domestic product growth rates due out on Friday.

Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Verizon Communications, up 2.82%, Cisco Systems, up 1.28%, and IBM, up 1.16%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included 3M, down 2.76%, ExxonMobil, down 1.48%, and Hewlett-Packard, down 1.21%.

European indices, meanwhile, finished largely higher.

After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.09%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.06%, while Germany's DAX 30 finished up 0.95%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 finished up 0.17%.

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs said earlier it expected the European Central Bank to trim benchmark interest rates 25 basis points at its monetary policy meeting next Thursday, which pushed stock prices higher.

On Friday, the U.S. will release preliminary data on first quarter growth.

The U.S. is also to release revised data from the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.

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