Dow Swings Back to 10,000

(Updated with Dow figures, recent index values and recent commodity prices.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday made a return closing visit above 10,000.

The Dow topped the five-figure mark, finishing up 203.8 points, or 2.1%, at 10,006 and marking the largest single-day point gain since July 15. The Dow went as high as 10,013.1 about 40 minutes before the closing bell.

The S&P 500 gained 20.1 points, or 1.9%, to 1066.6, and the Nasdaq added 49.8 points, or 2.4%, to 2105.3.

All of the stocks on the Dow, which last closed above 10,000 on Oct. 22, finished in positive territory. The biggest gainers included American Express(AXP Quote), JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and DuPont(DD Quote), which added 5%, 4% and 3.7%, respectively.

Cisco, which closed 2.8% higher today following an earnings beat, helped boost the overall markets.

"[Cisco CEO] John Chambers was successful in calling the bottom last quarter in his markets," says Art Hogan, chief market analyst for Jeffries. "This quarter, he was much more upbeat, not just about the bottom markets but about the middle markets."

On Wednesday, Chambers gave a hopeful but cautious assessment about the economic recovery that had Wall Street cheering.

Market gains were made across a wide swath of industries, with the Nasdaq Industrial Index adding 2.8%, the KBW Bank Index up 2.9%, and the NYSE Arca Tech 100 Index up 2.4% at the closing bell.

The rise started in the morning, after initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest since January. First-time claims fell by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 512,000 last week vs. a consensus forecast of 522,000. That's also down from the prior week's revised 532,000. Continuing claims fell to 5.75 million from a revised 5.82 million.

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