U.S. stocks were higher at closing Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose seven-tenths of a percent to 12,719. The S&P 500 was up one percent to close at 1,353 and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 1.4 percent to 2,873.

European stock prices closed higher. London's Financial Times index gained almost nine-tenths of a percent to end at 6,055. The CAC-40 in Paris advanced almost half a percent to finish at 3,980. The DAX index in Frankfurt rose half a percent to close at 7,471.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index fell one-tenth of a percent to finish at 10,071. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose less than one-tenth of one percent to finish the day's trading at 22,530.

Gold closed at $1,530.20 per ounce, up $1.50 from Wednesday.

The dollar was higher against the yen but lower against the euro.