Stocks Climb After Retail Sales, Better Jobs Data

SARA LEPRO

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are resuming their climb as investors get positive readings on two of the best gauges of the economy's health: consumer spending and corporate profits.

Major stock indexes rose more than 1 percent in midday trading Thursday, picking up where the market's rally left off earlier this week. The Dow Jones industrials put in their best back-to-back advance since July on Monday and Tuesday, rising 244 points, after two straight weeks of declines.

In a sign that consumer spending may finally be starting to recover, retailers last month saw their first sales gains in more than a year. A closely watched gauge of sales at major retailers showed an increase of 0.1 percent for September, compared with a 1.0 percent drop a year ago. While still tepid, it was the first monthly gain in the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs tally since July 2008, when the index was up 1.3 percent.

The upbeat mood on Wall Street was initially set after the close of trading Wednesday when Alcoa Inc. surprised investors with its first profit in nine months, which the aluminum company attributed to cost-cutting and rising sales to automakers. Alcoa also said it expects worldwide aluminum demand to increase 11 percent in the second half of the year.