India, July 17 -- After moving modestly higher over the course of the previous session, stocks saw further upside during trading on Thursday. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.
The major averages ended the session near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq advanced 153.78 points or 0.7 percent to 20,884.27, the S&P 500 climbed 33.66 points or 0.5 percent to 6,297.36 and the Dow rose 229.71 points or 0.5 percent to 44,484.49.
The continued strength on Wall Street came following the release of a batch of largely upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales rebounded by much more than expected in the month of June.
The report said retail s...