Apple and Biotech Sector Helps Wall Street Gains

US stocks had gained on Thursday helped by gains in Apple and bio-technology sectors, but gains are limited due to investor caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary meeting next week. Apple shares rose 2.2%, recovering from a decline on Wednesday when it released several new iPhone, iPad Pro, and some other products.

Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday while Asian and European stock rose sharply, whereas on Thursday, US stocks had gained while Asia and Europe fell sharply. Poor economic data from the two Asian giants, China and Japan, giving a negative sentiment to the market movements.

Economic data released by the US Labor Department showed claims for unemployment benefits fell as much as 6,000 to 275,000 in the week ended September 5th. Weekly jobless claims were below 300,000 in the past 27 weeks, and is considered to indicate the strengthening of the labor market.

The S & P 500 closed up 10.25 points, or 0.5%, to 1952.29, the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 76.83, or 0.5%, to 16330.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index adding 39.72 points, or 0.8%, to 4796.25.