U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining over 250 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.47% to 52,553.59 while the NASDAQ rose 0.32% to 26,124.28.

The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.41% to 7,513.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors Consumer staples shares jumped by 1.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, communication services stocks fell by 0.4%.