US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq hit record closing highs amid upbeat earnings, data

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* Weekly jobless claims decrease more than expected
* EBay, PayPal jump on upbeat quarterly earnings
* Indexes: Dow up 1.1%, S&P 500 up 1.1%, Nasdaq up 1.2%

(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose more than 1% on Thursday
and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted record closing highs after
another batch of upbeat earnings and data suggesting the labor
market may be stabilizing.
The Dow and S&P 500 rose for a fourth straight day, with
investor hopes of further progress on a pandemic-relief package
also boosting the market. Democrats in the U.S. Senate were
poised to take a first step toward the ultimate passage of
President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal.
The number of Americans filing new applications for
unemployment benefits decreased further last week, according to
the Labor Department's report.
The economic data, earnings news and talks of the $1.9
trillion stimulus package are all "good for Wall Street," said
Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management
in Chicago. "That's why we're seeing the market continue to
rally."
Stronger-than-expected results so far in the fourth quarter
have driven up analysts' expectations, and S&P 500 companies are
now on track to post earnings growth for the quarter instead of
a decline as initially expected. A pandemic-driven surge in online shopping during the
holiday season helped e-commerce firm eBay Inc EBAY.O and
payment platform PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL.O top quarterly
earnings estimates. PayPal shares rose
7.4% and eBay gained 5.3%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 332.26 points,
or 1.08%, to 31,055.86, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 41.57 points,
or 1.09%, to 3,871.74 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
167.20 points, or 1.23%, to 13,777.74.
The small-cap Russell 2000 index .RUT also registered an
all-time closing high.
The major indexes have bounced back sharply this week also
as a recent buying frenzy driven by social media appeared to
stall following a bout of market volatility last week.
Shares of videogame retailer GameStop Corp GME.N and other
recent favorites of retail investors fell again on Thursday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that she and
financial market regulators needed to "understand deeply" what
happened in the recent retail trading frenzy before taking any
action. GameStop shares ended down 42.1%.
Investors will be watching closely the U.S. government's
monthly employment report due out Friday.
According to a Reuters poll of economists, payrolls likely
increased by 50,000 jobs in January after declining by 140,000
in December.
Volume was down versus last week's levels. Volume on U.S.
exchanges was 14.09 billion shares on Thursday, compared with
the 15.5 billion average for the full session over the last 20
trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.53-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.78-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 241 new highs and 2 new lows.