Stocks Explode Again!

The U.S. stock market exploded higher again on Thursday after better than expected ADP Employment data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 93 points to close at 12,719. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 12,627 and 12,754. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY jumped 1.04% to $135.36. Volume was a little lighter than normal with 169.4 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average volume of 174.5 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, gained 1.37% to $59.19. The QQQ is now up 8.69% year-to-date and challenging 2011 highs. Crude oil made a convincing move to the upside on Thursday with NYMEX crude futures climbing 2.19% higher to $98.77. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO jumped 1.90% to $38.61 on the New York Stock Exchange. Gold moved marginally higher during the session. COMEX gold futures added 0.22% on the session to $1,532.60. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD gained 0.16% to $149.15. Treasuries lost ground as investors were moving into risk assets. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT lost 0.30% to $94.04. The yield on the 10-Year Note added 3 basis points to 3.14%. The U.S. Dollar declined slightly on the session, which helped bolster risk assets. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, lost 0.19% to $21.37. The closely watched EUR/USD pair is currently trading at $1.4363.