Technology buying boosted the overall US stock market as investor confidence in the sector seemed to be growing.
The Nasdaq rose 61.51, or 2.5%, to close at 2,552.91, while the Dow Jones advanced 95.61, or 0.9%, to 10,891.02.
Meanwhile the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 10.69, or 0.8%, to 1,326.61 and the Russell 2000 index rose 5.36 to 508.85.
Tech stocks rose even with the release of earnings from Hewlett-Packard and Dell Computer after the market's close.
The market's gains appeared to come chiefly from technology stocks. The Dow was lifted by IBM, up $1.68 at $116.78, and Intel, up $1.69 at $35.81.
Hewlett-Packard, another Dow stock, rose 5 cents in extended-hours trading, adding to its $2.26 gain from the regular session where it closed at $36.65. After the market closed, Hewlett-Packard announced earnings that met analysts' expectations.
On the Nasdaq, Cisco Systems rose $1.44 to $30.81, and Juniper Networks advanced $2.81 to $92.19. Dell fell 44 cents in extended trading after missing expectations by 1 cent and announcing it will cut 1,700 jobs. It had advanced $2.06 to $25 in regular dealings.
Earlier, Labour Department statistics showed unemployment claims fell slightly last week but are still at a level suggesting some workers are having trouble finding jobs in the weakening economy.
The data is the latest evidence that slower economic growth is curbing business activity. Stocks spent the last quarter of 2000 falling on speculation that growth was slowing too quickly. Now worries about when the economy - and corporate profits - will improve have investors shifting in and out of the market's sectors in hopes of finding some gains and minimising losses.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.12 billion shares, compared with 1.11 billion on Wednesday