The Dow hit its highest level since January on Thursday as better than expected home sales data and more upbeat corporate earnings reports pushed stocks up more than 2%. The three major indexes rose steadily in the morning and held on to gains through the close of trading. Sparking the rally, existing home sales climbed in June for the third straight month while blue chip firms like
The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 9,000 mark for the first time in six months, gaining 188 points, or 2.1%, to 9,069. The S&P 500 rose 22 points, or 2.3%, to 976 and the Nasdaq was up 47 points, or 2.5%, to 1,974.
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In commodities, crop prices rose sharply, with corn up more than 6% and sugar at a three-year high on fears of a poor harvest in some parts of the globe. Crude oil gained 3% to hit a three-week high on fears that refinery outages will cause a shortage of gasoline.
Thomson Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.