Rally Rolls on for ETFs and Stocks

Stocks got traction late Thursday as strong earnings news calmed recent investor jitters and blunted the effect of rising jobless claims. About 35% of the S&P 500 companies have reported earnings so far. Thursday is the heaviest reporting day of the season, and it was a boon to exchange-traded funds.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 132 points at 10,081. The Nasdaq ended up 15 points at 2165 and the S&P 500 climbed 12 to 1093.

Weighing on stocks, the Labor Department said initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 11,000 to 531,000 in the week ended Oct. 17. The previous week's level was revised up from 514,000 to 520,000.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected only a slight increase of 4,000; the report was another sobering sign of tough times for the job market.

Among the companies weighing on stocks, eBay (EBAY) fell after it reported a 29% profit decline and issued disappointing fourth-quarter guidance.

However, another round of quarterly reports was more positive, including that of McDonald's (MCD), which posted a 5.9% increase in third-quarter earnings as same-store sales remained positive across all its global markets.

Treasury Department special master Kenneth Feinberg, the so-called "pay czar," slashed compensation for top executives at 175 companies that took large amounts of government bailout money.

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

The SPDR KBW Regional Banking fund rose 5.4% as investors flocked back to financials. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders fund (XHB) rose 4.1% as investors got more confidence in an overall recovery.

The iPath Exchange Traded Notes S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index fund (VXX) dropped 4.4% as the abrupt acceleration of major indexes upended the volatility index. It was the wrong day to bet against the broad markets, as the Short S&P 500 ProShares fund (SH) dropped 1.1%.

Launching Pad
Van Eck Global plans to launch a new exchange-traded fund based on an index of small and medium sized gold mining and exploration companies. The manager has not yet launched the fund, which will track 38 companies, but expects to do so before the end of the year. Van Eck's Gold Miners fund (GDX) tracks an index of larger mining and exploration companies. It charges 0.55% annually.

Barclays Global Investors plans to launch a family of municipal bond exchange-traded funds targeting certain maturity dates. Each fund is designed to hold the underlying securities from its respective index to full maturity, then convert them to cash for distribution to shareholders. The funds will track the recently launched S&P AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index Series.

Earnings and Conference Calls
Active Power, AMCOL International, AVX, Cache, Celestica, Columbus McKinnon, Delta Apparel, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, EMC Insurance Group, Exelon, Honeywell, Horizon Lines, Idexx Laboratories, Ingersoll-Rand, Power Integrations, Sify, Timken, United Community Banks, Viad, Whirlpool, Wilmington Trust

Economic Data
10:00 a.m. Existing Home Sales