Nasdaq Leads Stock Market Higher

The U.S. stock market moved higher throughout Thursday's trading session, with the biggest gains coming in the Nasdaq. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added a little less than 37 points to close at 13,022. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 12,961 and 13,062. The gains came despite reports that no progress has been made on the fiscal cliff negotiations.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.47 percent to close at $142.12. Volume was a little heavier than normal with 144.6 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 131.8 million.

The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, climbed 0.60 percent to $65.91. The QQQ was helped by a better than 1 percent gain in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares.

Crude oil bounced back from recent losses on Thursday. NYMEX crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, were last trading up 1.53 percent to $87.81. Brent crude contracts added 0.90 percent to $110.50. In ETF trading, the United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) added 1.20 percent to $32.17.

Gold and silver also rose along with stocks. COMEX gold futures were last trading up 0.52 percent to $1,727.80 in the electronic session. Silver futures added 1.67 percent to $34.34. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) rose 0.41 percent to $167.23.

Treasury prices were largely flat on the day. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) closed the session up 0.02 percent to $125.13. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell by one basis point to 1.62 percent.

A lower U.S. dollar helped the stock market on the session. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, fell 0.14 percent to $21.94. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading at $1.2972, a gain of 0.15 percent.