ETFs Push Higher as Oil Prices Jump

The Lowdown
Stocks shook off early losses to notch more gains Thursday, leaving the Dow Jones Industrial Average above the 10,000 mark for a second consecutive day. Resource and commodity exchange-traded funds also climbed as crude oil prices rose more than $2 a barrel.

The Dow closed up 47 at 10063, and the Nasdaq ended up a point at 2173. The S&P 500 finished up 5 at 1097, after a wave of positive earnings results for the third quarter.

Conditions for New York manufacturers improved sharply in October, lifting hopes that the U.S. economy is firmly in recovery, according to the latest reading of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Empire State Manufacturing Survey released Thursday. The report suggested gains in labor markets as well.

Analysts have pointed to a wave of generally positive economic data and stronger-than-forecast corporate profits to explain the gains in markets.

After the closing bell Thursday, earnings reports from International Business Machines (IBM) and Google (GOOG) were released. Google posted earnings of $5.89 a share, ahead of Wall Street estimates. IBM beat views with earnings of $2.40 a share.

Asian stocks were up, and European markets were climbing near the end of their trading sessions.

As of 4:01 p.m., oil futures traded on the Nymex were at $77.56 a barrel.

For a detailed rundown on Thursday’s trading session see our market story.

The United States Oil fund (USO) rose 3.3% as crude prices were bid up against a weak dollar. The PDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production fund (XOP) rose 2.9%.

The iShares Silver Trust fund (SLV) dropped 2.8% as metals prices ebbed a bit. The SPDR KBW Bank fund (KBE) shed 0.9% as financial stocks lagged the end of the day bounce.

Launching Pad
Claymore Securities plans to launch a China exchange-traded fund based on the AlphaShares China All Caps Index, which launched this week. Claymore plans to launch the Claymore/AlphaShares China All-Cap fund (YAO) later this month. The index will be limited to single stock exposure of no more than 5% and sector exposure of no more than 35%. It will measure the performance of all small-, mid- and large-cap investable publicly traded Chinese companies currently trading in New York and Hong Kong, but it will not include China A-Share or China B-Share offerings. AlphaShares has two other ETF offerings with Claymore: the Claymore/AlphaShares China Real Estate fund (TAO), and the Claymore/AlphaShares China Small Cap Index fund (HAO).

ProShares Trust has sought approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for a pair of new Treasurys-linked, leverage exchange-traded funds. The ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury, and the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury — will seek to capture 200% of the daily performance of their underlying indexes. Total expense ratios for both funds were pegged at 0.95%.

Earnings and Conference Calls
A. O. Smith, Bank of America, First Horizon National, General Electric, Genuine Parts, Halliburton, Prosperity Bancshares, Sensient Technologies

Economic Data
9:00 a.m. Treasury International Capital
9:15 a.m. Industrial Production
9:55 a.m. Consumer Sentiment

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Thursday.