New York, July 31 (DPA): US stocks rose Thursday on surprising earnings results from US companies, continuing a strong run for the week amid signals that the US economy is stabilizing.

General Electric, Visa, MasterCard, Motorola all reported better-than-expected profits for the second quarter of the year.

A drop in weekly claims of unemployment benefits, reported every Thursday by the US Labour Department, also helped push stocks higher.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 83.74 points, or 0.92 percent, to 9,154.46. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 11.6 points, or 1.19 percent, to 986.75. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 16.54 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 1,984.3.

The major US stock indices are running at their highest levels of 2009 after reaching 12-year-lows in early March. The Dow closed at its highest level since early November.

The gains come ahead of the government's first estimate of second-quarter US gross domestic product, which will be released Friday morning. Economists expect a contraction of between 0.7 percent and 1.5 percent, compared to a 5.5-percent drop in the first quarter.

The US currency fell against the euro to 70.09 euro cents from 71.18 euro cents on Wednesday. The dollar climbed against the Japanese currency to 95.48 yen from 95.06 yen.