Washington - US stock markets surged on Thursday, buoyed by promising data on US job creation in June as well as a solid gain in retail sales for the month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 93.55 points (0.74%) to 12 719.57 in closing trade.
The broader S&P 500 rallied 14.02 points (1.05%) to stand at 1 353.24, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 38.64 points (1.36%) to 2 872.66.
Stocks jumped on encouraging jobs data from the payrolls firm ADP, its monthly index showing that private non-farm businesses added 157 000 jobs in June, a solid jump after the weak 36 000 increase from April to May.