U.S. stocks ended higher Thursday, as investors meditated on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony amid a batch of economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 35.68 points, or 0.19 percent, to 18,903.82. The S&P 500 added 10.18 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,187.12.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 39.39 points, or 0.74 percent, to 5,333.97.
In her testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress Thursday, Yellen said that it will be appropriate for the central bank to hike interest rate relatively soon, and warned of the risks of keeping rate low for too long.
"The (Federal Open Market) Committee judged that the case for an increase in the target range had continued to strengthen and that such an increase could well become appropriate relatively soon if incoming data provide some further evidence of continued progress toward the Committee's objectives," said Yellen.
Analysts took her comments as a clear indication that the central bank could raise interest rates next month.
According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, market expectations for a December rate hike were 90.6 percent.
On the economic front, U.S. privately-owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.323 million units, the Commerce Department announced Thursday.
"The huge jump in housing starts in October suggests there should be a surge of new homes coming to market in 2017, which should relieve some price pressure," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers increased 0.4 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, on par with market consensus, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.
In a separate report, the department said that in the week ending November 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 235,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000, according to the Labor Department.
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