NEW YORK, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks extended rally for a fifth day on Thursday as investors were encouraged by upbeat jobless data and corporate earnings forecast.

    The U.S. Labor Department reported that new jobless benefit applications fell to 550,000 last week, against the 560,000 analysts had expected.

    Meanwhile, those continuing to receive benefits fell by 159,000to nearly 6.1 million, the lowest level since early April.

    Energy and basic material sectors continued to rise on Thursday. Crude futures settled near 72 U.S. dollars a barrel after latest inventory report showed a larger-than-expected drop in crude stockpiles.

    Moreover, companies turned optimistic about business prospect. P&G predicts that its sales would rebound this autumn. Texas Instrument raised its earnings expectation.

    The Dow Jones rose 80.26 to 9,627.48. Broader indexes also rallied. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 10.77 to 1,044.14 and the Nasdaq put up 23.63 to 2,084.02.