By Caitlin Ostroff 

U.S. stocks advanced Thursday, with investors monitoring the Jackson Hole symposium where central bank leaders from across the globe are meeting to discuss issues facing world economies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 112 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.2%.

Investors were particularly focused on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech scheduled for Friday, where he could offer clues on central bank policy moving forward.

"It really is all on Powell's shoulders," said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst for FX brokerage Oanda.

Minutes released Wednesday from the Fed's latest policy meeting showed officials saw their move to cut interest rates last month as a "recalibration," rather than the start of a more aggressive easing cycle.

Investors were also sorting through a batch of fresh data for further clues on the health of the economy. Initial U.S. jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 209,000 in the week ended Aug. 17, keeping the number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits at historic lows, the U.S. Department of Labor said. Data on U.S. preliminary manufacturing figures will be released later Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Stoxx Europe 600 was flat after minutes from the European Central Bank showing broad support for prolonged stimulus measures failed to ease recession concerns.

The minutes came after earlier eurozone data on activity in the manufacturing and services sectors for Germany and France showed small rises, beating forecasts.

Although the German economic data were better than expected, Florian Hense, an economist for Berenberg Bank, said he remained concerned about a potential recession amid threats to German exports from the Trump administration's talk of tariffs on European car manufacturers.

"The numbers today neither discredit that nor really confirm it," he said. "What it confirms is that the domestic side of the economy is still holding up pretty well."

Investors continued to parse earnings results in the retail sector, which have helped eased some of the fears about slowing economic growth.

In Thursday's action, shares of Dick's Sporting Goods jumped 8.9% after the retailer posted its uptick in first same-store sales in roughly two years and raised its outlook for the fiscal year. Nordstrom climbed 7.8% after the department-store operator beat dialed-down expectations for its second-quarter earnings.

L Brands, however, slid 8.6% after the company's revenue fell in its latest quarter as sales at its embattled flagship Victoria's Secret chain dropped further.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.608% from 1.577% on Wednesday, according to Tradeweb.

In commodities, U.S. crude oil gained 1% to $56.22 a barrel. Gold prices slipped 0.4%.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks were mixed, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.1%.

-- Jessica Menton contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 09:56 ET (13:56 GMT)

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