Stocks See Mild Gains on Greek 'Deal,' Jobs Data

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks advanced Thursday as investors digested a Greek debt deal and another sign of a better domestic jobs market.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

added 6.5 points, or 0.1%, at 12,890, for a year-to-date run up of 5.5%. The index finished the previous trading session at its highest closing level since May 2008.

The

S&P 500

rose 2 points, or 0.2%, at 1,352, having climbed 7.5% year-to-date to a seven-month high. The

Nasdaq

gained 11.4 points, or 0.4%, to 2,927, helped by heavyweight stocks such as

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

, which was up 3.5%.

The Greek prime minister's office confirmed that Greek political leaders had reached a deal on austerity measures and deep structural reforms. The agreement paves the way for the country to receive a second bailout and avoid a messy debt default. A scheduled meeting between European finance ministers in Brussels is set to begin today.

Although the official Greek statement on the agreement didn't offer specific details, Greek news reports said that a 22% cut to the national minimum wage is expected. The party leaders reportedly also agreed on pension cuts, although to a smaller degree than Greece's creditors wanted, raising the question of whether the agreement fulfills the conditions necessary for the bailout.

The new measures have elicited waves of protests in Greece, where unemployment is at a record 21% rate. Greek union leaders have called for a 48 hour strike on Friday and Saturday.

Lou Brien, economic strategist at DRW Trading, said that going forward the market will focus on how Greece can execute the deal. "I thought the market would sell off on the Greek news because some kind of deal was anticipated and was likely priced in to some degree; but also because achieving the deal is one thing, but executing it is another," he said. Stocks were selling off earlier, likely due in part to investors booking some profits.

Another sign of an improving jobs market in the U.S. helped lift sentiment on Thursday. Initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 358,000 for the week ended Feb. 4, according to the Labor Department. In other domestic economic news, the Commerce Department reported that wholesale businesses increased inventories by 1% in December after staying put in November.

Also on Thursday, the European Central Bank announced the expansion of collateral to make three-year loans available to small and mid-sized banks. However, the ECB didn't comment on the key issue investors wanted clarification on -- whether the ECB will help take some pressure off of Greece's massive debt burden by giving up profits on its €55 billion ($72 billion) in Greek bond holdings.

Separately, the Bank of England early Thursday injected another 50 billion pounds ($79 billion) of new money into the United Kingdom, which saw its economy shrink at the end of last year.

London's FTSE settled 0.33% higher, and Germany's DAX finished up 0.59%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average settled down 0.15%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished lower by 0.04%.

In corporate news,

PepsiCo

(PEP) - Get Report

was tumbling 3.9% to $64.11 after the food and beverage giant projected a five percent decrease in earnings this year, at a time when major transitions for the company will be taking place as it tries to retake North America market share from competitor

The Coca-Cola Company

(KO) - Get Report

. PepsiCo plans to cut 8,700 jobs, or three percent of its global workforce to save an extra $1.5 billion over the next three years and increase advertising and marketing by $500 million to $600 million this year, most of it going into North America brands. Pepsi dropped 3.7% to $64.27.

Dow

component

Cisco Systems

(CSCO) - Get Report

, the networking-equipment maker,

topped analysts' earnings expectations

and raised its quarterly dividend by more than 30%. Cisco reported non-GAAP earnings of $2.6 billion, or 47 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter on revenue of $11.5 billion. Analysts were expecting Cisco to report earnings of 43 cents a share on revenue of $11.23 billion. Shares erased 2.1% to $20.

Visa

(V) - Get Report

gained 3.8% to $112.42 after the global payments company reported that first-quarter first quarter rose to $1 billion, or $1.49 a share, from $884 million, or $1.23 a share, a year ago, as more consumers used their credit and debit cards. Operating revenue increased 14% to $2.55 billion. Analysts on average were expecting the company to report earnings of $1.45 a share on revenue of $2.43 billion, according to a poll by

Thomson Reuters

The company also announced the approval of a new $500 million share repurchase program.

Groupon

(GRPN) - Get Report

posted a loss in its first quarterly report as a public company. The daily deals Web site, posted a pro forma adjusted

fourth-quarter loss

of $9.8 million, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $506.5 million, more than triple the revenue recorded in the year-earlier equivalent period. The company said adjusted results in the latest quarter reflect a negative impact of 7 cents a share from high taxes on its international operations. Analysts were expecting adjusted profit of 3 cents a share on revenue of $475 million in the quarter. Tumbled 14% to $21.17.

Credit Suisse

(CS) - Get Report

, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, posted a fourth-quarter loss of 637 million Swiss francs ($698 million), wider than analysts' expectations of a loss of 431 million francs. A year earlier, the bank earned 841 million francs."Our performance for the fourth quarter 2011 was disappointing," said CEO Brady Dougan. "It reflects both the adverse market conditions during the period and the impact of the measures we have taken to swiftly adapt our business to the evolving market and regulatory requirements." Credit Suisse recorded a restructuring charge in the quarter of 981 million francs. Shares lost 3% to $26.81.

Diamond Foods

(DMND)

, the snack company, said it needs to

restate its financials

for the past two years to properly account for certain payments to walnut growers. The company also named an acting CEO and CFO, placing Michael Mendes and Steven Neil on administrative leave, and said it's working to complete the restatements and file required reports with the

Securities and Exchange Commission

, which is probing Diamond Foods along with the Justice Department. Shares plunged 37% to $23.13.

March oil futures settled $1.13 higher to $99.84 a barrel, while April gold futures finished up $9.90 at $1,741.20 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 10/32, diluting the yield to 2.042%, while the U.S. dollar index was down 0.1% at $78.60.

-- Written by Chao Deng, Kaitlyn Kiernan and Andrea Tse in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Andrea Tse

.