NEW YORK — Relief about Europe’s pledge to support Greece sent the stock market charging higher Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 106 points as confidence grew that aid to Greece would extinguish one of several threats that investors see to an economic recovery.
The market’s advance was broad-based, but energy and materials stocks logged some of the biggest gains after oil prices rose for a fourth day.
A tame report on inflation in China suggested the country wouldn’t have to move more aggressively to slow its economy.
China’s rapid economic expansion has been driving up demand for natural resources, and the benign signal on inflation there sent shares of materials companies higher.
Oil-and-gas company Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and metals producer Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. each rose more than 4 percent.
A drop in the dollar also helped lift commodity prices, which are priced in dollars and become less expensive to foreign buyers when the dollar falls.
Encouraging news about jobs in the U.S. also supported the stock market. The Labor Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week. Economists say a lasting economic recovery can’t take hold without big gains in jobs.
Analysts warned that a patch for Greece’s finances won’t necessarily be enough to restart a 10-month rally in stocks that stalled last month.
Questions are still looming over the market about how the U.S. economy will fare after the government starts to unwind the supports it used to stabilize the financial system over the past two years.
The Dow rose 105.81, or 1.1 percent, to 10,144.19, its highest close in more than a week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 10.34, or 1 percent, to 1,078.47. The Nasdaq composite index rose 29.54, or 1.4 percent, to 2,177.41.
Bond prices were mixed following weak demand at a government auction of 30-year Treasury notes.
