Wall Street rose modestly Thursday as investors looked past a disappointing profit report from Exxon Mobil Corp. and focused on economic data that was slightly more upbeat than expected.
The stock market's advance was limited because Exxon Mobil's $11 billion profit was not as high as analysts expected despite record high oil prices. Lower production volumes caused the company's profit margins to shrink.
Wall Street was relieved, however, that the Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.4 percent in March, a faster pace than analysts expected, and that the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing contracted at a slightly slower pace than anticipated.
The data was not completely positive _ consumer spending rose mainly due to rising prices for energy and food. Stripping out inflation, spending edged up only 0.1 percent during the month. And meanwhile, the ISM's report also indicated that costs are continuing to rise.
But Wall Street appeared to be trading optimistically a day after an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve, and ahead of the Labor Department's Friday report on April employment. On Thursday, the government said the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits soared by a greater-than-expected 35,000 last week _ not a positive sign ahead of the Friday report.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 25.97, or 0.20 percent, to 12,846.10.
Exxon Mobil, one of the 30 Dow components, saw its shares decline $3.38, or 3.6 percent, to $89.68.
Broader stock indicators also advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.90, or 0.28 percent, to 1,389.49, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 24.12, or 1.00 percent, to 2,436.92.
Stocks had closed mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point, as expected, but failed to give a firm indication about its future moves.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.69 percent from 3.73 percent late Wednesday.
Light, sweet crude fell 71 cents to $112.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The dollar moved higher against most other currencies, and gold prices dropped.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.10, or 0.29 percent, to 718.28.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 9 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 183.9 million shares.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.60 percent. European markets were closed.
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