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.

Volume was slightly above average. 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 on opening day, Jan. 3.

But the gains have been steady. The S&P has closed higher 10 of 12 days, and all three major averages have recorded healthy advances for the young 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 economic recovery is for real and getting stronger.

“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.

Of the 10 categories of stocks in the S&P 500, the only one that lost considerable ground was utilities — a safe play for investors during turbulent times and the best-performing category last year.

Cote said the market’s gains could accelerate as investors begin to focus more on economic fundamentals in the United States instead of worries about their exposure to risk.

And the economic news Thursday was good: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.

U.S. consumer prices were unchanged last month, a signal inflation is under control. In the housing market, a third straight increase in single-family home building in December was offset by a drop in apartment construction.

France and Spain also held successful bond auctions, easing concerns about the debt crisis in Europe. As global risk factors subside, Cote predicts that markets will see “a strong snap-back rally.”

Bank of America rose 2 percent and Morgan Stanley rose 5 percent after reporting encouraging financial results. Bank of America returned to a profit in the last three months of 2011, while Morgan Stanley’s loss was much less than forecast.

Renewable Energy Group Inc., the nation’s largest producer of biodiesel, edged up 10 cents to $10.10 on its first day of trading. It was the first initial public offering of stock this year.

Trading was halted in shares of Eastman Kodak, the iconic photography company, after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Kodak could not find a buyer for its trove of 1,100 digital imaging patents.

The Dow’s gain for the day amounted to 0.4 percent. The S&P’s came to 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq added 18.62 points, or 18.62 points, to close at 2,788.33.

Among other stocks in the news:

• eBay Inc., the online auction company, rose 3.9 percent after it beat Wall Street earnings forecasts and gave a healthy outlook for the year.

• Southwest Airlines Co. rose 3.1 percent after it said its fourth-quarter net income and revenue jumped. Southwest said it expects strong revenue in the first quarter too, based on passenger-booking trends.

• Johnson Controls Inc., an auto parts and building equipment maker based in Milwaukee, fell 8.8 percent. Its profit and revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. It also cut its forecasts, blaming weaker auto production in Europe, a lower euro and poor demand for batteries.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, indicating a rebound from a selloff in the previous session as strong results from IBM encouraged investors worried about macroeconomic uncertainties.

* International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) said late Monday that new business at its services division surged more than expected in the second quarter, raising hopes 2011 would be a good year for the technology sector. Shares of the Dow component gained 1.7 percent to $178.20 in premarket trading.

* Bank of America, reporting quarterly results early Tuesday, said the performance in underlying businesses continued to be clouded by costs from legacy mortgage issues. The stock rose 1.9 percent to $9.90 before the bell.

* KeyCorp (KEY.N) reported early Tuesday that second-quarter earnings that beat expectations as bad loans fell.

* While concerns tied to government debt in the United States and Europe have dominated broader market action and contributed to the S&P’s worst week in the last five, the current earnings season has indicated that companies remained in solid shape. Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Google Inc (GOOG.O) rallied on strong results.

* S&P 500 futures rose 9.6 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 64 points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 16 points.

* Earnings are due from bellwethers Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Coca-Cola Co (KO.N). Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is scheduled to report after the market closes.

* Investors also awaited June housing starts data, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT <1230 GMT>. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 575,000 annualized rate in June versus 560,000 in May, and a total of 600,000 permits in June, compared with 609,000 in the prior month.

* Two weeks before a final deadline, U.S. President Barack Obama and top lawmakers faced more pressure for a debt deal amid a growing sense that a last-ditch plan taking shape in Congress may be the only way to avoid a devastating U.S. default.

* U.S. stocks dropped on Monday as bank shares bore the brunt of investor frustration over governments’ inability to solve debt crises in the United States and Europe.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

LONDON (AFP) – European stock markets rose at the start of trading on Friday, with London’s FTSE 100 index up 0.23 percent to 6,068.65 points, in the wake of strong jobs data in the US.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 advanced 0.41 percent to 7,502.83 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.39 percent to stand at 3,995.43.

Traders are meanwhile eagerly awaiting Friday’s non-farm payrolls report in the United States.

European equities had risen on Thursday as better-than-expected US jobs data helped offset persistent concerns over how and when the eurozone debt crisis can be resolved.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The euro steadied on Thursday with a widely expected rate hike from the European Central Bank later being offset by a spreading sovereign debt crisis, while China’s bank stocks bounced on hopes of a near-term pause in policy tightening.

The risks of sovereign debt default were still very much on the radar of global investors, though Wall Street finished higher overnight, as many looked beyond the latest bout of nervousness over the euro zone debt crisis after Moody’s slash in Portugal’s ratings sparked a selloff in peripheral bonds.

The sharp drop in the bonds of Portugal and Greece came just a week after Greece passed tough austerity measures needed to win a near-term bailout, thereby avoiding a default.

Greece and Portugal have raised the stakes for ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet and keep exposing the euro’s biggest vulnerability. The central bank will probably lift rates for a second time this year to 1.5 percent but then pause for a few months as it battles a debt crisis and struggles to avoid an outright default.

“On a relative basis, Europe is going to be suffering with a strong currency, higher interest rates, budget problems, austerity budgets, higher taxation. So you’re going to have low growth in Europe,” said Davis Hall, global head of FX and precious metals advisory at Credit Agricole Suisse’s private client business.

“Europe is going to need a weaker currency at some point… Which is why we think the euro is vulnerable and we are staying away,” said Hall, who is bearish on the euro versus the Swiss franc and U.S. dollar.

SAMSUNG UNLEASHES TECH SECTOR BEARS

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) was up 0.4 percent, near a one-month high reached on Monday that has been difficult to retest since then.

Gains were spread evenly across the financials, industrials and consumer-oriented stocks, while the technology sector was the only one in the red, pulled down by a 2 percent fall in shares of Samsung Electronics (005930.KS).

Quarterly profit at Samsung, the world’s largest maker of memory chips and televisions and a big favorite of foreign fund managers wanting exposure to the Asian tech sector, fell 26 percent, hurt by weak earnings at its flat screen unit.

Bank and insurer shares helped lead gains in Hong Kong as investors judged that the People’s Bank of China is getting closer to taking a break from its multiple increases in policy rates and bank reserve requirements as the economy shows signs of losing steam.

“For a speculative play you could say that Chinese banks have been beaten down on various concerns … but I don’t think those banks will go bust,” Yonghao Pu, chief strategist of UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong, told Reuters Television.

“Sentiment (on Chinese bank stocks) is very bad, but for the short term I think you can speculate and buy some.”

The Hang Seng index (.HSI) rose 0.5 percent, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index of mainland stocks listed in Hong Kong was up 0.7 percent (.HSCE).

Japan’s Nikkei average (.N225) closed down 0.1 percent, ending a 7-day rally that pushed the index back to where it was right after March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. (.T)

OPTIONS TO AVERT U.S. DEFAULT

The euro was trading at $1.4315, smack in the middle of a range held over the past two months. It could be vulnerable should the ECB strike a dovish note later after a policy meeting or if the debt crisis brings countries such as Greece and Portugal closer to default.

However, with Congress still not close to agreeing to lift the ceiling on government borrowing, the possibility of a U.S. debt default has loomed over the dollar as well and helped to keep the euro in a relatively tight trading range against the dollar for the past few months.

Reflecting how critical the issue of U.S. debt ceiling has become, top Treasury officials have been secretly exploring ways to prevent a financial meltdown that would be triggered if Washington was unable to pay its bills on time, sources told Reuters.

The Australian dollar climbed 0.3 percent against the dollar at $1.0732 after data showed a robust increase in June employment showed the economy was holding up well despite recent reports showing households becoming more cautious on spending.

Gold prices were little changed at $1,532.60 an ounce, while U.S. crude oil was up 68 cents to $97.33 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in TOKYO and Masayuki Kitano in SINGAPORE; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

NEW YORK – Stocks climbed for a third straight day on Monday, the longest stretch of gains the market has had in nearly a month.

Major indexes opened mixed but moved higher in midday trading, putting the market further away from its longest weekly losing streak since 2002. Last week stocks eked out tiny gains, giving the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index their first rises after a six-week slump.

The downturn, which began in early May, brought the S&P 500 close to its average level over the prior 200 days. So long as the index doesn’t sink far below that level, many technical traders see it as a sign to start buying stocks again. The S&P is now 6 percent below the 2011 high it reached on April 29.

“In the short term, stocks have been oversold, and you’re going to get some sort of bounce, whether justified or not, just for technical reasons,” said Paul Simon, chief investment officer for Tactical Allocation Group, which has $1.5 billion in assets under advisement.

The S&P 500 index is up 7 points, 0.6 percent, at 1,278. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 71 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,076. The Nasdaq is up 16, or 0.6 percent, to 2,632.

European leaders failed over the weekend to agree on releasing more financial aid to Greece, saying the country must first agree to more budget cuts. Greece’s recent efforts to slash spending have led to street protests and political turmoil in Athens. The Greek government faces a confidence vote on Tuesday.

Prime Minister George Papandreou’s newly-reshuffled government is expected to prevail in the vote, and officials say they expect Greece to get its next installment of emergency loans in July. If Greece were to default, it could trigger losses for the banks that hold Greek bonds and more turmoil in financial markets.

Investors are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, which begins Tuesday, and the next round of corporate earnings reports that begin in July, said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services.

“There’s a little fatigue about hearing about the same problems, and there’s no shock factor anymore,” he said. “So now you’re going to start looking ahead. Earnings season is going to start in three weeks or so.”

Analysts expect operating earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 index rose 14 percent in the second quarter. They also expect the Fed to keep interest rates at nearly zero, a record low.

Fertilizer producer Agrium Inc. raised its forecast for second-quarter earnings after record crop prices pushed up demand for its products. Its stock rose 2.8 percent.

Nabors Industries Ltd., a driller for oil and gas, warned that its pressure pumping and international businesses have been weaker than it expected. The stock lost 2.2 percent.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. fell 1.9 percent after saying it would buy the U.S. retail operations of Royal Bank of Canada for $3.45 billion. The deal will make PNC the fifth biggest U.S. bank with 2,870 branches. The deal follows Capital One Financial Corp.’s $9 billion purchase last week of ING’s U.S. online bank.

Greece has been at the center of Europe’s debt worries, but other countries are also facing troubles. Moody’s warned that it may cut Italy’s credit rating because of its mounting debt and sluggish growth prospects.

NEW YORK – Stocks are rising at the opening of trading after Microsoft Inc. agreed to buy Internet telephone service Skype for $8.5 billion.

Companies have built up a record amount of cash since the recession, and they have begun to use it for acquisitions, dividends and stock buybacks. Technology companies have particularly big cash hoards. The Skype purchase is Microsoft’s largest deal in its 36-year history.

Stronger-than-expected earnings reports are also lifting stocks. Dean Foods Co., Activision Blizzard Inc. and others reported earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 17 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,702. The S&P 500 is up 3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,349. The Nasdaq composite index is up 8 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,851.

LONDON (AFP) – European stock markets rose on Thursday ahead of the Easter break, benefiting from more strong US earnings after a rocky start to the week, traders said.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 0.26 percent to 6,037.55 points in midday trading, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 grew 0.73 percent to 7,301.97 points and in Paris the CAC 40 advanced 0.66 percent to 4,030.75.

The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies increased by 0.80 percent to 2,945.17 points.

“European Indices continued to trade positively… adding to yesterday’s two percent gains,” said Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index traders.

“Better-than-expected US company earnings over the last few days continues to support equities across Europe.

“Intel’s earnings were the kick start to yesterday’s very bullish session and stellar earnings from Apple last night has helped to cement the positive earnings sentiment over the last two trading sessions.”

Global stocks have rebounded strongly from heavy losses early in the week when Standard & Poor’s downgraded its US debt outlook, which spooked investors already worried by the high debt levels in certain eurozone nations.

US earnings continued to please on Thursday, as US conglomerate General Electric reported a better-than-expected income rise of 80 percent for the first quarter to $3.36 billion.

In Europe, the world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter net profit to 344 million euros ($503 million).

Nokia’s shares leapt 3.45 percent to 6.14 euros in early afternoon trading on a Helsinki market up just 0.24 percent.

Thursday’s figures are the first quarterly results to be released since Nokia chief executive Steven Elop said in February that the company would abandon its own mobile operating system for one designed by Microsoft.

Elsewhere, Fiat took a giant step on Thursday to becoming one of the biggest automakers in the world with a $1.3-billion (889-million-euro) deal to boost its stake in Chrysler to 46 percent.

Investors welcomed the news, with Fiat’s share price on the Milan stock exchange rocketing 3.80 percent to 6.825 euros.

Across the Atlantic, US stocks had soared on Wednesday, with the Dow closing near three-year highs, on strong earnings reports that beat Wall Street expectations, particularly in the technology sector.

After starting the day with a triple-digit bang, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.52 percent to finish the session at 12,453.54 points — the highest closing level for the blue-chip index since June 5, 2008.

Tokyo’s market closed 0.82-percent higher on Thursday

NEW YORK – Stocks are poised to open higher ahead of what’s expected to be another strong earnings season.

Alcoa will unveil its first-quarter results after the market closes, the first blue-chip company to do so. Analysts say its earnings per share jumped to 27 cents from 10 cents a year earlier, excluding one-time charges. Analysts expect stronger results this week from JPMorgan Chase, Google and others.

Investors, though, still have a long list of worries, including a new earthquake that struck Japan on the one-month anniversary of its March 11 earthquake.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 29, or 0.2 percent, to 12,355. S&P 500 futures are up 3.2, or 0.2 percent, to 1,327. Nasdaq 100 futures are up 7.75, or 0.3 percent, to 2,325.75.

LONDON (AFP) – Shares in London climbed at the start of trade on Tuesday along with other European markets, boosted by improved consumer spending in the United States.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 11.80 points or 0.20 percent to 5,916.29 points.

Wolseley was the biggest gainer, jumping 3.78 percent to 2,168 pence after the plumbing and heating equipment distributor announced strong interim results.

LONDON (AFP) – Shares in London climbed at the start of trade on Friday as investors appeared optimistic about a resolution to the European debt crisis.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index advanced 0.59 percent to 5,915.63 points.