NEW YORK — Strong corporate earnings reports and the lowest unemployment claims in almost four years gave investors more reasons Thursday to take risks on stocks, and the market continued its quiet but solid January climb.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 45.03 points to close at 12,623.98. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 6.46 points to close at 1,314.50. Both averages are at their highest since July. The Nasdaq added 18.62 points to close at 2,788.33.
The market has been subdued this year: The S&P has moved up or down 1 percent or more only twice, and the Dow has moved 100 points only once, a 179-point gain Jan. 3.
But the gains have been steady. The S&P has closed higher 12 of 14 days, and all three major averages have recorded healthy advances this year — 3.3 percent for the Dow, 4.4 percent for the S&P and 7 percent for the Nasdaq composite index.
Investors appear ready to believe that the recovery is for real.
“The market is screaming loud and clear,” said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING Investment Management. “Prices have lagged fundamentals, and now they’re catching up.”
After the market closed, Google stock plunged more than 10 percent after its earnings per share badly missed Wall Street expectations. Intel and Microsoft rose slightly in after-hours trading after more encouraging reports.
In a sign of a bigger appetite for risk, investors moved money out of U.S. debt, a haven during the stock market’s volatile second half of 2011. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note increased to 1.98 percent from 1.90 percent Wednesday.
The market was led by industries that tend to perform best when the economy is getting stronger — consumer discretionary stocks, financials and industrial companies.
