国际英语新闻：Wall Street extended gains on upbeat economic data

NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street extended gains on Thursday, with most of the major sectors trading in positive territory, as improving economic data outweighed the stronger dollar.

At Thursday's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68.78, or 0.67 percent, to 10,405.83. Broader indexes also went higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.40, or 0.58 percent, to 1,102.35 and the Nasdaq added 7.13, or 0.33 percent, to 2,190.86.

    U.S. stocks surged in the early session after a series of upbeat economic data boosted market sentiment.

    A report from the Commerce Department showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in October as the weak U.S. dollar helped boost exports.

    The trade gap shrank 7.6 percent to 32.9 billion U.S. dollars while analysts expected it to widen to about 36.8 billion dollars.

    Meanwhile, new jobless claim rose more than expected. However, total claims lasting more than one week fell, with the four-week moving average down by 7,750 to 473,750, the lowest figure in more than 14 months, said the Labor Department.

    The gains in stocks hold on even as the dollar strengthened against a basket of major currencies. The dollar's weakness has been a big driver behind higher stock prices in recent months as investors take advantage of cheap financing to buy assets like stocks and commodities that can earn better returns than cash.

    In recent weeks, however, dollar steadily strengthened on speculations that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rate sooner than expected.

    Commodities, which are broadly traded in the U.S. currency, took a hit from a stronger dollar.

    Crude oil fell below 70 dollars level and hit a session low of 69.81 dollars a barrel in mid-morning, lows not seen in two months. The January contract rebounded afterwards to settle at 70.54 dollars a barrel, down only 0.2 percent but still posting a seventh straight drop.

    On company news front, AOL, which returned to public trading after separating from Time Warner, fell 0.63 percent on its first day and closed at 23.52 dollars.

    Investors continued to watch Citigroup as the bank was wrestling with the U.S. government on how much money it needed to exit from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). After Bank of America repaid its TARP debt, Citi was planning to raise the funds and reach a similar agreement with Treasury in order to escape the "harsh" restrictions of its government overlords. Citi share was little changed and closed at 3.87 dollars.

    Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, announced on Thursday afternoon that its 30-membermanagement team would receive its year-end bonuses in stock that will be locked up for five years. The company has been criticized for allocating a near-record amount to pay employees in the first nine months of 2009 after benefiting from government support last year. Its shares inched up 10 cents to 166.83 dollars.