Stocks rose, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index above 1400 for the first time in almost four years, as investors cheered another round of solid domestic economic reports.

Benchmark stock indexes overcame a shaky start to close Thursday at fresh multiyear highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 58.66, or 0.44%, to 13252.76, extending gains for a seventh straight session. Its the longest winning streak for blue chips since an eight-session run in February 2011.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 8.32 points, or 0.6%, to 1402.60, the first close above the round number since June 5, 2008. The Nasdaq closed up 15.64, or 0.5%, to 3056.37, its highest close in more than a decade.

Financial and industrial stocks were the big gainers among sectors in the S&P 500. Bank of America rose 4.5% and J.P. Morgan Chase gained 2.6% to lead the blue chips. Cisco Systems fell 1.4% after announcing plans to acquire NDS Group, a U.K. video software maker, in a $4 billion deal. Apple edged lower by 0.7% after briefly topping $600 for the first time ever early in the session.

Thursday's gains were propped up by reports on the U.S. economy. The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. New claims are hovering at about levels last seen four years ago. Meanwhile, manufacturers from upstate New York down to Delaware are seeing better business conditions this month, according to separate reports released Thursday by Federal Reserve banks.

"You had another round of good economic data here in the U.S., [and] you're sort of in a situation where the economy is in a self-sustaining recovery," said John Canally, economist strategist at LPL Financial.

U.S. wholesale prices increased in February at the fastest pace in five months. The Producer Price Index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, but producer prices were up 0.2% without energy and food components.

In other corporate news, Scholastic jumped 13% after it reported its fiscal third-quarter loss narrowed as the popularity of "The Hunger Games" series aided the children's book publisher's sales and improved margins. Scholastic also raised its full-year earnings estimate.

Guess slumped 10% as fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell short of expectations, even as earnings were in line, and the apparel and accessories retailer provided first-quarter earnings and revenue outlooks well below projections.

Capital One Financial rose 2.5% after it said it plans to offer up to $1.25 billion of its common stock in a public sale to help fund its previously announced acquisition of HSBC's U.S. credit-card business.

Video conferencing technologies company Radvision advanced 4.5% after it agreed to be acquired by Avaya in a deal valued at $230 million.

Vera Bradley slid 9.6% after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates, but provided a first-quarter earnings outlook that was below projections.

Winnebago Industries climbed 16% after reporting better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter revenue.

-By Chris Dieterich, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2611; christopher.dieterich@dowjones.com