The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 196.67 points, or 0.55 percent, to 35,950.56. The S&P 500 increased 29.23 points, or 0.62 percent, to 4,725.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 131.48 points, or 0.85 percent, to 15,653.37.
Nine of 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with consumer discretionary and industrials up 1.24 percent and 1.16 percent, respectively, outpacing the rest. Real estate and utilities, however, struggled.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher with six of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.
The above market reactions came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday authorized American pharmaceutical company Merck's oral antiviral for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19, the second pill approved for treating COVID-19 following the one from Pfizer.
The FDA's decision has added another at-home COVID-19 treatment option to help keep high-risk people out of the hospital.
On the economic front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, stood at 205,000 in the week ending Dec. 18, unchanged from the prior week's revised level, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had estimated new claims would total 206,000.
U.S. financial markets will be closed on Friday in observance of Christmas.
For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow and the S&P 500 rose 1.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, while tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 3.2 percent.
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