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Stocks in Broad-Based Rally - CNNMoney.com -- Stocks rallied Thursday as investors sorted through a bevy of reports on jobs, housing, net worth and the deficit -- and opted to scoop up a variety of shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 69 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 index added 6 points, or 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite gained 7 points, or 0.3%.

Stocks rose more sharply in the first minutes of trade, with the Dow adding as much as 107 points on the weak dollar. But the dollar seesawed throughout the session, cutting into gains.

The weak dollar has helped stocks rally over the past nine months, with the S&P 500 now up 62% from 12-year lows hit on March 9. The weaker dollar has given a boost to dollar-traded commodity shares and the stocks of companies that do business overseas.

But in the last few weeks, the dollar has zigzagged and so have stocks. Stocks have also been volatile due to the lighter trading volume this month, with many investors opting to coast through year end rather than shake up their portfolios at the end of the tumultuous year.

Unemployment Claims Jump Unexpectedly - CNNMoney.com -- The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance jumped last week, the government said Thursday, with a figure that was above analysts' expectations.

There were 474,000 initial job claims filed in the week ended Dec. 5, up 17,000 from the previous week's unrevised 457,000, the lowest level since September 2008, the Labor Department said in its weekly report. 

HAMP Report: Few Loan Modifications Made Permanent - The Treasury Department released data Thursday on activity in its Making Home Affordable (HAMP) program during the month of November. As expected from earlier comments made by Treasury officials, borrowers continued to enter the program under trial modifications, but the rate of permanent modifications remains well below expectations.

Cumulative figures for the program by the end of November show participating servicers had sent a total of 3,137,548 requests for financial information to borrowers thought eligible for the foreclosure prevention program and had extended 1,032,827 invitations to participate in a trial modification program, up from 920,000 in October.

There are currently 728,408 borrowers actively participating in loan modifications, however, only 4.3 percent of those modifications, or 31,382, have been converted to permanent status.