By Frank Pompa, Kevin Kepple, Adam Shell
and Denny Gainer
USA TODAY
Stocks closed higher Thursday as the Dow topped 17,000 for the first time and notched a new all-time closing high, as did the S&P 500.
Powered by a strong jobs report -- 288,000 were added in June, dropping the jobless rate to 6.1% -- the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 0.5% to 17,068.26, the S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 1985.44 and the Nasdaq composite finished up 0.6% to 4485.93.
The Nasdaq ended at a 14-year high.
Literally from the get-go -- the opening bell -- the blue-chip index shot past the big number and stayed comfortably above the milestone through the abbreviated trading day. The closing bell rang at 1 p.m. ET, three hours earlier than usual, because of Friday's July Fourth holiday.
"Let's just hope today's report is not equivalent to a fireworks grand finale," said market analyst Todd Schoenberger of the jobs news.
European benchmarks jumped on the news that the European Central Bank is keeping rates the same. Britain's FTSE closed up 0.7% to 6865.21, Germany's DAX finished 1.2% higher to 10,029.43 and France's CAC-40 gained 1%, settling at 4489.88.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 21.68 points, or 0.14%, to close at 15,348.29 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 30.32 points, or 0.13%, to 23,519.30.
The Dow continued its heady climb into uncharted territory on the eve of the Fourth of July, eclipsing the 17,000 milestone for the first time in its 118-year history and building on the bullish start to the second half of 2014.
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