The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ gained more than 300 points  Thursday afternoon and the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ rose as well as markets  cheered a rate-cut-friendly jobless-claims report.

The Dow gained 331 points (0.85%) shortly after the market closed at 4 PM EST. The S&P added 26 ticks (0.51%) and the Nasdaq rose 43 points (0.27%.)

Markets rose in part after U.S. weekly initial jobless claims came in high at 231,000 -- their highest level since August, and well above the 212,000 reading that economists had expected.

The higher claims potentially pointed to a softening U.S. job market, which could help tame inflation and pave the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. Lower rates historically help stocks by making bond and money-market yields less desirable.

Still, Boston Fed President Susan Collins signaled Wednesday night in a speech at MIT that the Fed will likely need to hold rates at a two-decade high for longer than previously thought, Bloomberg reported.

Collins said slower growth was necessary to ensure inflation was on a path to its 2% target. She would not say when she expects the Fed to cut its benchmark target Federal Funds rate.

On Tuesday, Minneapolis Fed chief Neel Kashkari said that one rate cut is still possible this year, but that if inflation stays the same and the labor market remains strong, rates should stay the same, too.

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