国际英语新闻:Dow, S&P set record closing highs on Bernanke stimulus reassurance

"Mirroring last year, jobless claims had a bump in July thanks to auto plant shutdowns. Despite the swings, the less volatile four-week average remains within 340-360k range in the last three months," Mei Li, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, commented in a note on Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. prices for import and export in June fell for the fourth consecutive month, also according to the Labor Department Thursday.

On other markets, the U.S. dollar dropped against other major currencies on Bernanke's remarks. The Japanese yen strengthened against the greenback after Bank of Japan (BOJ) upgraded its assessment of the Japanese economy for the seventh consecutive month.

The BOJ provided a rosier outlook for the Japanese economy in a statement following its policy meeting which ended Thursday, saying "Japan's economy is expected to recover moderately on the back of the resilience in domestic demand and the pickup in overseas economies."

In late New York trading, the euro gained to 1.3104 dollars from 1. 2881 dollars of the previous session and the British pound increased to 1.5192 dollars from 1.4923 dollars. It bought 99.03 Japanese yen, lower than 100.18 yen of the previous session.

Oil prices dropped from a 15-month high, as the International Energy Agency's monthly report showed global oil supply will outstrip demand growth next year. Light, sweet crude for August delivery lost 1.61 dollars, to settle at 104.91 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for August delivery went down 0.78 dollars, to close at 107.73 dollars a barrel.

Gold futures rallied sharply to a two-week high. The most active gold contract for August delivery rose 32.5 dollars, or 2. 61 percent, to settle at 1,279.9 dollars per ounce.