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NEW YORK - Investors are growing more confident that the bruised economy is starting to heal.
Stocks closed at their highest level in more than two months Thursday as investors sifted through a mix of earnings and economic reports and found reason to be optimistic.
Nokia led tech stocks higher after the world's top mobile phone maker said it was maintaining its outlook for the phone market and had surpassed analyst expectations for sales during the first quarter. And JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the latest bank to report first-quarter earnings that were stronger than predicted.
The day's economic numbers also fed optimism. The government's weekly unemployment claims fell more than expected for the second consecutive week, and a snapshot of regional manufacturing from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve was better than expected. Home construction fell sharply last month, but analysts said that could help the real estate market work through inventory.
Although investors do not yet know how well all of America's biggest companies fared in the first three months of the year, there is a growing sense that the economy and the market are starting to stabilize.
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