US Stocks hit fresh highs as dollar weakens (ext)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks rose to multi-year highs on Thursday, as investors dismissed a series of mixed earnings reports as well as disappointing economic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 72 points, or 0.6%; to close at 12,763.

S&P 500 (SPX) rose 5 points, or 0.4%, to 1,360; and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) rose a modest 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2,873.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended at levels not seen since May 2008.

Investors said Thursday's gains were in part a continuation of Wednesday's session, when stocks hit new highs following Fed chief Ben Bernanke's first post-policy meeting press conference.

"A lot of the action is a repeat of what we had yesterday following the Fed announcement, we got the dollar declining, stocks rising and gold heading higher," said Brian Gendreau, market strategist with Financial Network.

The U.S. dollar fell against the euro, British pound and Japanese yen, with the U.S. Dollar Index, a security that tracks the dollar's value against other major currencies, struck its lowest level in 21 months.

The dollar's decline was in part due to the weaker-than-expected economic data that was out on Thursday.

The Department of Commerce released its report on first-quarter gross domestic product, showing that first-quarter GDP expanded at an annual rate of 1.8%, falling short of the 2% growth economists surveyed by CNNMoney had forecast.

The government also reported its weekly initial jobless claims data. The Labor Department reported that jobless claims totaled 429,000 last week.

That was worse than expected and also marked the third week in a row that jobless claims came in above the key 400,000 level.

A report from the National Association of Realtors showed a 5.1% rise in pending home sales for March, much higher than the 1.7% rise economists had expected.

Oil for June delivery rose 11 cents to $112.68 a barrel.

Gold futures for June delivery rose $14.20 to settle at a record high of $1,531.20 an ounce. Earlier, gold hit a new intraday record of $1,535.50 an ounce and moved even higher in electronic trading.