Wall Street ended higher on Thursday, with investors buying the dip in a volatile session that saw the S&P 500 and Dow close up over 1% each. The Nasdaq oscillated from a strong gain to a loss, and back up again, to close 0.7% higher.

Upbeat labour market data prompted investors to buy shares of companies viewed as likely to outperform as the economy recovers, putting the brakes on three straight days of losses.

The S&P 500 ended the session up 1.2%, trimming its loss this week to about 2.8%.The Dow Jones Industrials rose 433.79 points to 34,021.45, while the Nasdaq gained 93.31 oints or 0.72 per cent to 13,124.99 on Thursday

The Nasdaq has lost almost 5% this week and is down about 7% from its record high close on April 26

New applications for unemployment insurance continue to fall, according to jobless claims data from the Labour Department that hit a 14-month low.

Recent economic data has prompted inflation fears as a scarcity of materials and workers threatens to send prices surging in the face of a demand boom. But investors on Thursday focused on the glass-half-full side of the strengtheningunemployment insurance data.

The S&P 500 industrial and financial indexes both jumped 1.9%, while energy dropped 1.4%, the only one of 11 sectors to end in the red.

The S&P 500 ended the session up 1.2%, trimming its loss this week to about 2.8%.The Dow Jones Industrials rose 433.79 points to 34,021.45, while the Nasdaq gained 93.31 oints or 0.72 per cent to 13,124.99 on Thursday

The Nasdaq has lost almost 5% this week and is down about 7% from its record high close on April 26.

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