Brands Rise

Thursday’s session closed in positive territory. Cisco and Merck led the Dow’s ascent. Stocks rebounded somewhat from Wednesday’s dip amid a variety of economic news. Crude oil tacked on $1.99 to settle at $97.73. On another note, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 390,000 last week. Disney reported quarterly data after the closing bell. Net income jumped 30 percent to $1.09 billion, or 58 cents a share, from $835 million, or 43 cents, a year ago.

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