Wall St up on consumer confidence, Euro shares

Major US stock indices rose Thursday after a strong consumer-confidence report, rising European equities and fewer-than-expected jobless claims.

The New York-based private Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index had improved in November to 56, up from 40.9 in October. Lynn Franco, director of the corporate economic think tank, said confidence had bounced back to levels last seen during the summer, "after six months of steady declines."

"Consumers appear to be entering the holiday season in better spirits, though overall readings remain historically weak," she said.

Stocks rose despite a downward final revision of US economic growth, to an annualised 1.8 per cent in the third quarter. The earlier estimates for July-September gross domestic product expansion were 2.5 per cent and 2 per cent.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 61.91 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 12,169.65. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 10.28 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 1,254. The

technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 21.48 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 2,599.45. \\\\ DPA