Session Ends with Gains

Thursday’s session ended with gains. Morgan Stanley, Walt Disney, Cisco and Bank of America led advancers on the Dow. Stocks traded higher amid optimism for the Greek financial-aid plan and respectable earnings data. Late this afternoon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a 109-billion-euro rescue plan for debt-beleaguered Greece. Meanwhile, Microsoft reported quarterly results. Net income climbed 30 percent to $5.87 billion, or 69 cents a share, from $4.52 billion, or 51 cents, a year ago. Elsewhere, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims increased by 10,000, to 418,000 last week.

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