Stocks Record Moderate Gains

The U.S. stock market rose on Thursday as the market continues to retrace some of the losses from November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose around 40 points on the session and closed at 13,074. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 13,007 and 13,077.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.34 percent to close at $141.98. Volume was noticeably light with just 97.3 million SPY shares trading hands on the day compared to a 3-month daily average of 134.2 million.

The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which fell on Wednesday after a steep decline in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), added 0.64 percent to $65.32. Apple shares rose 1.57 percent after losing more than 6 percent the previous day.

Crude oil was lower on the session. NYMEX crude futures lost 1.64 percent to $86.44 in the electronic trading session. Brent crude contracts were last down 1.53 percent to $107.14. In ETF trading, the United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:USO) registered a decline of 1.71 percent and closed at $31.67.

Precious metals were marginally higher on the day. At last check, COMEX gold futures were up 0.44 percent to $1,701.30. Silver futures had gained 0.39 percent to $33.09. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) added 0.23 percent on the session and closed at $164.50.

Long-term Treasuries also gained on Thursday. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE:TLT) rose 0.20 percent to $125.59. The yield on the 10-Year Note was flat at 1.58 percent.

The U.S. dollar rose on the session as the euro tumbled. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE:UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.55 percent to $21.95. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading at $1.2963.