U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index rising more than 250 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.63% to 42,177.28 while the NASDAQ rose 0.54% to 18,179.88. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.36% to 5,743.03.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 1.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell by 2%.

Top Headline

Accenture Plc(NYSE:ACN) reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

The company posted quarterly sales of $16.41 billion compared with the analyst consensus estimate of $16.39 billion, up 3% Y/Y in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency. The adjusted EPS...