The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 155.53 points, or 1.2%, to $12,651.91. Blue chips rose after labor and inflation data sparked speculation that the Fed Reserve would add quantitative easing. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index advanced 14.22 points, or 1.1%, to $1,329.10. Telecommunications and energy companies paced advances across all of the index’s 10 sectors.

The number of Americans making initial claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose, while the prior week’s figure was revised higher. Meanwhile, U.S. consumer prices fell in May, in line with expectations, as plunging gasoline costs offset higher rents and medical-care prices. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose 0.2% from April, also matching economists’ forecasts.

Yields on Spanish 10 year bonds surged near 7%, an all time euro high, after Spain was downgraded by Moody Investors.
Meanwhile, yields on 10-year Spanish government bonds surged to 6.958%, according to electronic trading platform Tradeweb, after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Spain’s debt three notches to the brink of junk territory late Wednesday.

Asian markets were broadly lower after the downgrade of Spain. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite gave up 1%. Crude-oil futures added 1.6% to settle at $83.91. Gold futures edged up 30 cents, or less than 0.1%, to finish at $1618.40.

In other corporate news, U.S.-listed shares of Finland’s Nokia (NOK) dropped 16% after the handset maker announced a shake-up of management and said it would cut an additional 10,000 jobs by the end of next year as it deals with increased competition. Cabot Oil & Gas jumped 8.6%, alongside a rally in natural gas prices after U.S. inventories of the fuel rose less than expected, suggesting improved demand.

Thomas Doherty is an undergraduate at Villanova University majoring in Finance and Economics. Thomas@KeeneOnTheMarket.com