Nasdaq Jumps To Nearly Fifteen-Year Closing High

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday after ending the previous session roughly flat. The gains on the day lifted the Nasdaq to its best closing level in almost fifteen years, while the Dow and the S&P 500 climbed back toward their record highs.

Steel stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 2.7 percent. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in a month.

ArcelorMittal (MT), Allegheny Technologies (ATI) and AK Steel (AKS) turned in some of the steel sector's best performances.

Considerable strength also emerged among banking stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Banks Index. The index also ended the day at one-month closing high.

Networking stocks also saw significant strength on the heels of upbeat earnings news from Cisco (CSCO). Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Networking Index surged up by 2 percent.

Internet, energy, housing and software stocks also saw notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages finished the day at or near their highs for the session. The Dow climbed 110.24 points or 0.6 percent to 17,972.38, the Nasdaq soared 56.64 points or 1.2 percent to 4,857.61 and the S&P 500 shot up 19.95 points or 1 percent to 2,088.48.