Dow Jumps 200 Points, Stocks Rise for a Fifth Day

New York (Feb 15)  The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen for four straight sessions. The Dow has had the strongest four-day gain since November 2016, the S&P 500 since July 2016.

Prior to Thursday's opening, the S&P 500 has trimmed its loss to 6.1% from its Jan. 26 high. The three major stock indexes are positive for 2018.

Wall Street Overview

Stocks rose sharply on Thursday, Feb. 15, extending their rally into a fifth straight session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 195 points, or 0.78%, to 25,088, the S&P 500 gained 0.5%, while the Nasdaq jumped 0.64%.

The Dow was getting a lift from shares of Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO - Get Report) , which rose after the company returned to revenue growth. Producer prices in the U.S. rose 0.4% in January, matching the forecasts of economists. Core PPI rose 0.4%, ahead of estimates of up 0.2%. The 12-month rate of wholesale inflation rose last month to 2.7%.

Wall Street has been eyeing inflation data to help it gain clues about the pace and trajectory of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation at the consumer level, rose 0.5% in January, higher than economists' forecasts of a 0.3% gain.

The 10-year Treasury note was yielding 2.90% on Thursday, after hitting a fresh four-year high of 2.94% on Wednesday, Feb. 14. Manufacturing indexes from Philadelphia and New York state, released Thursday, showed solid growth in February.

Jobless claims in the week ended Feb. 10, rose 7,000 to 230,000, rebounding from a near 45-year low.

Shares of Cisco rose 4.7% on Thursday after the networking giant's fiscal second-quarter earnings topped forecasts and its top-line grew.

"In Q2, we returned to revenue growth," Chairman CEO Chuck Robbins told investors in a call after the market close on Wednesday.

Cisco's revenue, which had declined for eight consecutive quarters according to FactSet, rose 3% in the quarter to $11.9 billion, beating a consensus forecast of $11.8 billion. Adjusted earnings of 63 cents a share topped expectations of 59 cents.

TheStreet