U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as series of positive economic data and some companies’ good performance boosted the market sentiment.

Followed the picking-up of retail sales and factory output, the improved U.S. employment, consumer spending and housing market continued to give more signs of optimistic economy recovery.

The Labor Department said the number of people filing for jobless benefits dipped by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 420,000 in the week ended Dec. 11, meeting the market expectation. The four-week average of initial claims fell for the sixth straight week to 422,750, the lowest level since August 2008.

The Commerce Department said, the nation’s current account deficit deepened slightly in the third quarter to 127.2 billion U. S. dollars for a one tenth increase to 3.5 percent of GDP, its highest since late 2008, due to a jump in imports that indicated consumer spending was rising.

And the department’s figures showed, housing starts rose to a 555,000 annual rate in November, up 3.9 percent from October’s 534, 000 level and higher than market forecast of 550,000. This showed the industry is struggling to recover. However, the building permits fell, reflecting a drop in applications for multifamily projects.

Besides, positive quarterly reports of some leading companies also gave investors reason for optimism.

FedEx Corp., the second-largest U.S. package-shipping company, posted quarterly profit of 1.16 U.S. dollar a share in the fiscal second quarter through November and raised its full-year forecast for fiscal 2011 to 5 dollars to 5.30 dollars a share, up from a September projection of 4.80 dollars to 5.25 dollars. Its share rose 1.83 dollars, or 1.98 percent, to 94.22.

The transportation sector rose 0.87 percent.

Canadian company Research In Motion Ltd.’s quarterly earnings rose 45 percent in the most recent quarter, as the BlackBerry maker said it shipped 14.2 million BlackBerrys, up 40 percent from a year earlier to a record. The technology sector rose 0.80 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.78 points, or 0.36 percent, to 11,499.25. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 7.64 points, or 0.62 percent, to 1,242.87 and the Nasdaq was up 20.09 points, or 0.77 percent, to 2,637.31.

In the other markets, crude oil fell as concerns about the euro zone economy rose. Light, sweet crude for January delivery lost 92 cents to 87.70 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile. The U. S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies as bond yield went up, the euro dipped near 1.3196 against the dollar, the dollar bought 84.12 Japanese yen.