Wall Street bounced back Thursday with the S&P and NASDAQ jumping over 4 percent, showing investors' relief over the improved European debt situation and the U.S. job market.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, Aug. 11, 2011. Wall Street bounced back on Thursday as U.S. job data came in beating expectation and hopes of an improved Europe debt situation lifted markets sentiment, with financial and energy leading the rise. (Xinhua/Wu Jingdan)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 423.37 points, or 3.95 percent, to 11,143.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 51.88 points, or 4.63 percent, to 1,172.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 111.63 points, or 4.69 percent, to 2,492.68.

The U.S. Treasuries suffered a big sell-off Thursday as investors rushed to the stock market. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped sharply to 2.336 percent, while its prices generally went down.

The gold price dived from a record high of over 1,800 U.S. dollars an ounce as investors became more aggressive Thursday.

After a big sell-off Wednesday, investors started to come back to markets and pick up stocks at bargain prices in a cautious way on Thursday. The financial sector, which saw a sharp fall one day before, bounced back with a vengeance.

Market confidence was boosted by the news that the leaders of Germany and France, the eurozone's biggest economies, will meet next week to talk about solutions to Europe's financial problems. Another confidence-boosting factor was that the Swiss franc would reportedly be pegged to the euro, causing the European financial sector to rally.

Investors were also encouraged by positive data from the job market. The U.S. Labor Department said the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell 7,000 to 395,000 last week. This is the first time for weekly data to dip below 400,000 in four months, indicating an improving job market and offering comfort to anxious investors.

However, in a separate report, the U.S. Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit widened to 53.1 billion in June, the largest since October 2008. Both imports and exports declined as global demand slowed.

As for shares, financial and technology shares led the market, surging over 4 percent on Thursday. Bank of America, which plunged over 10 percent on Wednesday, soared 7.09 percent, and Goldman Sachs Group rose 7.03 percent.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet