Wall Street carried the momentum into the new year, with the benchmark S&P index closing above 2,700 for the first time on Wednesday and the Nasdaq settling above 7,000 a day earlier. "The point that people need to take is that the macro indicators are telling investors that world economies are doing really well," said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
Strong manufacturing and services sector data from the world's largest economies helped global shares climb to new levels on Thursday. A report showed US private employers stepped up hiring in December and planned layoffs by American-based companies fell sharply, pointing to sustained labor market strength.
Private employers added 250,000 jobs in December, according to the ADP National Employment Report, above the 190,000 additions forecast by economists polled by Reuters. At 12:32 pm ET (1732 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 133.39 points, or 0.54 percent, at 25,056.07 and the S&P 500 was up 11.31 points, or 0.42 percent, at 2,724.37. The Nasdaq Composite was up 10.41 points, or 0.15 percent, at 7,075.94.
Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by 1.4 percent gain in the financial index. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan rose about 1.5 percent and Goldman Sachs 1.3 percent after the strong data raised the odds of a March rate hike.