国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks rally fades on stronger U.S. dollar, profit taking

NEW YORK, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. stocks rally faded on Thursday on a strengthening U.S. dollar and profit taking.

Wall Street jumped in the morning after the U.S. Labor Department said the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 442,000, boosting hopes the economy is on the verge of creating jobs.

The drop was more than economists had expected but most of it resulted from a change in the calculations the department makes every year to filter out seasonal reasons. Excluding the effect of those seasonal adjustments, initial claims would have been around 453,000, according to some analysts.

About 8.4 million jobs have been lost since December 2007, when the recession started.

The stocks also got a boost as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Thursday that record-low interest rates are still needed to foster economic recovery.

During his testimony on Fed exit strategies before the House Committee on Financial Services, Bernanke said the economy continued to require the support of "accommodative monetary policies," but the central bank had to be ready to tighten credit when needed to prevent inflation.

However, the markets were pulled back later in the day as the U. S. dollar rose against the euro while some investors took profit in the rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.22, or 0.05 percent, after rising near 11,000 benchmark, to settle at 10,841.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 1.99, or 0.17 percent, to 1, 165.73 and the Nasdaq fell 1.35, or 0.06 percent, to 2,397.41.