U.S. stocks rose, with equities heading for a third straight monthly gain, as investors weighed an unexpected drop in jobless claims to assess the strength of the world’s largest economy. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1,804.30 at 9:30 a.m. in New York. The gauge added less than 1 point yesterday, after earlier rising to an intraday record, as investors sold shares before changes to MSCI Inc. indexes. “It just continues to look pretty good and it would not surprise if we saw acceleration in growth as we go into 2014,� Mackintosh Pulsifer, who helps oversee $15 billion as vice chairman and chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Co. International, said in a phone interview. The reports continue “to support the notion that we’ve moved from recovery into expansion. With each data point that comes in there’s nothing that’s signaling the direction is changing,� he said. Data today showed fewer Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the labor market is showing resilience. Jobless claims in the week ended Nov. 23 declined 10,000 to 316,000, the fewest in two months. The median forecast of 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 330,000. A separate reading indicated orders for U.S. durable goods dropped in October, reflecting a broad-based retreat and signaling the government shutdown hurt business confidence. A report at 9:55 a.m. New York time will probably show that the final reading of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan November consumer sentiment index rose to 73.1 from a preliminary reading of 72, economists predicted. Confidence Data Figures yesterday showed the Conference Board’s index of consumer sentiment fell to a seven-month low this month as Americans grew more pessimistic about the labor-market outlook. Federal Reserve policy makers have been scrutinizing data to determine whether the economy is strong enough to withstand a reduction in their $85 billion a month in bond purchases. Thee rounds of Fed bond purchases have helped push the S&P 500 up more than 166 percent from a bear-market low in 2009. Four out of five investors expect the Fed to delay a decision to begin reducing the stimulus until March 2014 or later, according to a Bloomberg Global Poll on Nov. 19. The S&P 500 has rallied 26 percent this year, heading for the biggest annual gain since 1998, as the Fed continued the pace of monetary stimulus. The index is up 2.6 percent this month, with valuations near their highest level since the end of 2009. The gauge trades for about 16.3 times its companies’ projected earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. U.S. equity markets will be closed tomorrow for the Thanksgiving holiday. “We’ve seen multiple expansion because of continued support from monetary policy and this is still the main driver of the market,� Ivo Weinoehrl, a fund manager at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, said by phone from Frankfurt. He helps oversee about $1.29 trillion. “The market is fundamentally fully valued.� To contact the reporters on this story: Sofia Horta e Costa in London at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net; Aubrey Pringle in New York at apringle1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net

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