NEW YORK - Stocks rose Thursday, helped by better data on retail sales and jobless claims, while a trio of analyst upgrades pushed the Dow Jones industrial average into positive territory for 2010.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 47.38 points, or 0.5 percent, to 10,444.14, up 0.2 percent for the year. It was led Thursday by a 2.9 percent gain in Walt Disney Co. after Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its rating on the company to "buy" from "neutral."
Two other Dow components benefited from upgrades by UBS.
Shares of Coca-Cola Co., which was moved to a "buy" rating from "neutral," rose 1 percent. Boeing Co. gained 1.7 percent after being moved to a "neutral" rating from "sell" by the investment bank, which said a greater proportion of airlines are now looking to speed deliveries of new aircraft rather than postpone them.
Better-than-anticipated readings of jobless claims and nonfarm business activity also helped the market, though data on factory orders and pending home sales were disappointing.
All the week's big-picture announcements, however, have been viewed mostly as precursors to a highly anticipated payroll report due Friday morning. Wall Street is expecting to see further declines in nonfarm payrolls for February -- a worrisome sign for investors looking for a robust economic recovery.
"No one thinks we're going to have a double-dip recession, but it does look like we're going to have a long slog," said Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange for Kabrik Trading. "The unemployment rate has been getting better lately, but no one is really hiring."
The Nasdaq composite index was up 0.5 percent, while the S&P 500 was up 0.4 percent.
