Stocks soared higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each reaching new record closing highs, as investors cheered strong U.S. economic data and corporate quarterly earnings reports. The market has largely recovered from last week's volatility following the retail investor trading frenzy pushed highly-shorted stocks like GameStop (GME  ) and AMC Entertainment (AMC  ) higher.

Meanwhile, initial unemployment claims dropped far more than expected on Thursday, according to fresh data from the Labor Department. New claims totaled 779,000 for the week ended Jan. 30, following a downwardly revived total of 812,000 for the previous week. Consensus economists had expected claims to total 830,000. Moveover, continuing jobless claims also declined for the third straight week to 4.592 million for the week ended, falling from the week prior's revised total of 4.785 million.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.09% or +41.57 points to 3,871.74

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +1.08% or +332.20 points to 31,055.80

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.23% or +167.20 points to 13,777.74

For Stocks, PayPal (PYPL  ) and Ebay (EBAY  ) rose higher on Thursday following better-than-expected earnings reports. Apple (AAPL  ) shares also gained after CNBC reported that the tech giant was close to finalizing a deal with Hyundai-Kia to develop and produce autonomous cars.

For Sector Performance, most sectors on the S&P 500 rose alongside Thursday's broader market gains, with Materials (XLB  ) being the lone decliner. Top gainers were Financials (XLF  ), soaring over 2%, and Information Technology (XLK  ), Industrials (XLI  ) and Energy (XLE  ) rising over 1%.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) rose for its fifth straight session on Thursday, with investors betting that Friday's jobs report will post better-than-expected results. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, increased 0.5% to 91.509. Gold (GLD  ) prices dropped on Thursday, falling below the key $1,800 level, on that strengthening dollar. Spot gold declined 2.3% to $1,791.76 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 2.4% lower at $1,791.20 per ounce. Silver (SLV  ) also dropped on Thursday, falling 2.3% to $26.26 per ounce. Crude oil futures climbed higher on Thursday on strong U.S. economic data, but the strong U.S. dollar limited price jumps. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) rose 0.7% to $58.87 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 0.6% higher at $56.02 each.

For Friday, investors will turn their attention to the Labor Department's jobs report for January, as well as more corporate quarterly earnings from companies like Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN  ) and Sanofi S.A. (SNY  ).