Stocks Fight Back; Dow Up 553

Stocks rallied late today, overcoming the report of a big jump in weekly jobless claims that pushed the Dow briefly below 8,000 earlier in the session, MarketWatch reports. Amid mixed earnings reports and generally downbeat forecasts, the Dow gained 552.59 to close at 8,835.25. The Nasdaq rose 97.49 to close at 1,596.70, while the S&P 500 climbed 58.99 to 911.29.

The US trade deficit narrowed to $56.5 billion in October, though economists believe lower commodity prices, not rising exports, were probably responsible. Intel shares saw a nearly 7% gain even though the company cut its forecasts for the fourth quarter. Also boosting tech, Siemens gained 15.1% after reporting $3.1 billion in fourth-quarter losses but not cutting its yearly profit prediction. (More Dow Jones stories.)