New York, July 31 (DPA) US stocks rose Thursday on surprising earnings results from US companies, continuing a strong run for the week amid signals that the US economy is stabilizing.

General Electric, Visa, MasterCard, Motorola all reported better-than-expected profits for the second quarter of the year.

A drop in weekly claims of unemployment benefits, reported every Thursday by the US Labour Department, also helped push stocks higher.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 83.74 points, or 0.92 percent, to 9,154.46. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 11.6 points, or 1.19 percent, to 986.75. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 16.54 points, or 0.84

per cent, to 1,984.