Thursday, June 4, 2009

Traders are betting the economy will improve and reward banks and energy companies.

Stocks finished higher for the fifth time in six days following a rally in financial and energy shares. Analysts have upgraded bank stocks and oil prices hit fresh highs for the year.

Investors gained some confidence in the prospects for the overall economy after the number of workers continuing to receive unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell for the first time in 20 weeks.

The Dow is up 75 at 8,750. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 11 at 943. The Nasdaq composite index is up 24 at 1,850.