Dow climbs 193 points as markets rise for second straight day

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks climbed for the second consecutive day Thursday as investors weighed the latest comments on inflation from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 193.24 points, or 0.61%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.66% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6%, in an up-and-down session.

Stocks fell early in the day as Powell gave remarks in a Q&A session at the Cato Institute where he reiterated his stance that the central bank will take the necessary steps to combat inflation, while also indicating it would not soon halt interest rate hikes.

"History cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy," Powell said. "I can assure you that my colleagues and I are strongly committed to this project and we will keep at it until the job is done."

Early in the day, the European Central Bank hiked its interest rates by 75 basis points as it also sought to battle inflation.

The U.S. central bank is expected to do the same Sept. 21.

Investors also processed positive jobs data, as the Labor Department reported that first-time unemployment insurance claims totaled 222,000 for the week ending Sept. 3, marking the lowest reading since May.

American Eagle stock fell 8.71%, as the clothing retailer missed on its quarterly earnings expectations, suspended its quarterly dividend and warned that "demand trends remain difficult" in the current quarter.

Conversely, GameStop stock rose 7.45% after the company, which came into focus as a so-called "meme stock" in early 2021, announced a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange FTX on Wednesday.