March 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks advanced, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index a fifth straight day of gains, after jobless claims dropped from a three-month high and worker productivity topped economists’ estimates. Walt Disney Co. climbed 2 percent after Bank of America Corp. recommended the shares. Coca-Cola Co., the world’s biggest soda maker, advanced after UBS AG lifted its recommendation on the stock. The major indices rose as the government said first- time jobless-benefit claims fell by 29,000 to 469,000 last week and productivity climbed at a 6.9 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, capping the biggest one-year gain since 2002.
“This series of reports are on target, which means you probably won’t get an outlier” in the government’s payroll report tomorrow, said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist for Shrewsbury, New Jersey-based Channel Capital.
The S&P 500 increased 0.3 percent to 1,121.61 at 9:37 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 percent to 10,431.22.
The S&P 500 yesterday rose to the highest level since Jan. 20 on reports showing improvement in service industries and the labor market. The benchmark index for U.S. stocks slid as much as 8.1 percent from this year’s high on Jan. 19 amid concern that a weak job market and widening budget gaps in Greece, Spain and Portugal would threaten the economic recovery. This week’s advance trimmed the retreat to less than 3 percent.
‘Soft’ Labor Market
Equities pared gains yesterday as the Federal Reserve said labor markets remained “soft,” while President Barack Obama urged lawmakers to vote on an overhaul of the health-care industry and prepared to send Congress legislation limiting banks’ size and trading.
The number of contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes probably rose 1 percent in January for a second month, showing the extension of a tax credit is sparking limited interest, economists said before a report at 10 a.m. in Washington.
Disney climbed 2 percent to $32.27 in New York. BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research raised its recommendation on the world’s biggest media company to “buy” from “neutral,” citing releases “Alice In Wonderland” and “Toy Story 3.”
Coca-Cola advanced 1.9 percent to $54.93. UBS lifted its recommendation on the shares to “buy” from “neutral,” citing “solid, mid-single digit global volume growth.”
Fifth Third Bancorp dropped 1.4 percent to $12.36. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. cut its recommendation on the stock to “market perform” from “outperform,” saying “strong relative performance has driven the stock through tangible book value.”
