US stocks closed higher Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average's triple-digit gains propelled by the likes of General Motors Corp., which drew an analyst upgrade, and McDonald's Corp., which doubled its anticipated dividend. General Motors Corp. surged 10% amid reports that talks between the automaker and workers over the thorny issue of health care costs have perhaps been fruitful.

Investors, who have been nervous about the economic fallout from rising mortgage defaults and tightness in the credit markets, were relieved to hear Countrywide -- the nation's largest mortgage lender -- secured $ 12 billion in credit. Meanwhile, crude-oil futures marked their first-ever benchmark-contract close above $ 80 a barrel Thursday as a result of concerns over U.S. supplies that have been falling for weeks, but natural-gas prices dropped more than 6% as a storm threat to energy production in the Gulf of Mexico fizzled.

Crude for October delivery tacked on 18 cents to finish at $ 80.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It touched an intraday high of $ 80.15 during the regular session and $ 80.20 during the electronic trading session -- both of which are all-time intraday highs for a front-month contract.

Shares of financial companies added to Wall Street's rally, aided by a Federal Reserve report illustrating a slowdown in the decline in the commercial paper market. Investors were also cheered by data ahead of the opening bell. The Labor Department reported its count of Americans making initial applications for jobless benefits climbed 4,000 for the week ended Sept. 8, putting the total number of first-time claims at 319,000.

The Dow rose 133.23, or 1%, to 13,424.88. Broader stock indicators also advanced, though more modestly. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.39, or 0.84%, to 1,483.95, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 8.99, or 0.35%, to 2,601.06. Government bond prices fell sharply as stocks advanced and investors grew more confident they could move out of the safest bets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, jumped to 4.48% from 4.41% late Wednesday.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 1.2 billion, and advancing stocks beat declining issues 10 to 7. At the Nasdaq, nearly 1.7 billion shares were traded, and advancers overtook declining stocks ran even.


Indian ADRs end in the green; Sterlite gains more than 3%

Indian ADRs ended in the green. Sterlite was up more than 3%. Wipro was the only loser, down marginally by 0.29%. In the technology pack, Infosys Technologies was up 1.32% at 47.63, Patni Computers was up 1.43% at 22.67, Satyam Computers was up 1.84% at 24.29, while Wipro ended the day 0.29% lower at 13.80.

In the non-technology pack, HDFC Bank was up 0.95% at 89.90, VSNL was up 0.05% at 20.16, ICICI Bank was up 0.27% at 43.91, MTNL was up 1.12% at 7.23, Tata Motors was up 1.18% at 17.20, Dr Reddy's Lab was up 1.25% at 16.26 and Sterlite was up 3.14% at 16.09.