The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 14.88 points, or 0.04 percent, to 35,499.85. The S&P 500 rose 13.13 points, or 0.30 percent, to 4,460.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 51.13 points, or 0.35 percent, to 14,816.26.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with health care up 0.77 percent, outpacing the rest. Energy slipped 0.49 percent, the worst-performing group.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded lower with all the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.
On the economic front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 375,000 in the week ending Aug. 7, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. The reading was in line with market estimates.
The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 1.0 percent in July, showed a separate report by the Labor Department on Thursday, well above the 0.6-percent consensus.
Excluding volatile food, trade services and energy components, the PPI increased 0.9 percent last month, the largest advance after climbing 1.0 percent in January.
The data came one day after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showing the so-called core CPI, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.3 percent last month for a 4.3-percent year-over-year increase.
"There are still pressures in supply chains as producers race to keep up with demand," said Chris Low and Will Compernolle, economists at FHN Financial.
"The connection between PPI and CPI is not always straight or immediate, but higher producer prices influence consumer prices. This won't prevent inflation from eventually cooling, but it may mean inflation will be higher and more persistent," they said.
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