国际英语新闻：Upbeat jobs, trade data push U.S. stocks higher

NEW YORK, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street extended gains on Thursday as upbeat jobs and trade data provided hope for a stronger economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 28.23 points, or 0.27 percent, to 10,415.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 5.31 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,104.18 and the Nasdaq was up 7.33 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,236.20.

Rising stocks outpaced those that fell three to two on the New York Stock Exchange, however, the volume was still extremely low at 840 million shares.

Before the market opened on Thursday, the Labor Department said that the number of people filing for jobless benefits fell 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 451,000 in the week ended Sept. 4, the lowest level in two years.

Unemployment claims have pushed up to over 500,000 in mid- August as employers were still reluctant to hire amid "unusually uncertainties" in the economy. Investors worried the deterioration in jobs market will further damage the fragile recovery and drag the economy back to the recession.

Although the level of jobless claims was still too high to suggest any widespread hiring, the decline in recent weeks did ease some concerns for a worse employment situation.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Commerce Department showed the trade deficit narrowed 14 percent to 42.8 billion dollars in July, a good sign for the weak economic recovery.

Financials continued to lead the gains in the market, fueled by hopes that international regulators meeting in Switzerland this weekend may set less onerous restrictions on how much capital banks must hold.

Among stocks in focus, Goldman Sachs Group rose 1.08 percent after the British Financial Services Authority said that the firm agreed to pay a fine of 17.5 million pounds for failing to notify about a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

Software company Adobe Systems also caught investors'eyes, with its shares soaring more than 12 percent, after Apple removed one obstacle keeping developers of mobile software for Apple's app store from using Adobe's technology.