Dow Jones Industrial Average Soars 260 Points As Weak Retail Sales Ease Rate-Hike Fears

U.S. stocks closed sharply higher Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average leaping nearly 260 points, after a weak reading on retail sales eased concerns over a looming Federal Reserve rate hike. The gain helped push all three major indexes positive for the year following two straight sessions of major losses that had erased all gains for 2015 in the blue-chip Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index.