Stocks end higher despite eurozone woes

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday even as Europe ho-hummed over the news that the eurozone economy is flatlining.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 61.78 points, 0.4%, to 16,713.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 ended up 8.46 points, 0.4%, to 1955.18. And the tech-laden Nasdaq composite closed up 18.88 points, 0.4%, to 4453.00.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.4%, near its lows for the year.

Earlier in the day, Wal-Mart (WMT) posted a slight profit increase for the second quarter as its U.S. operations continue to fall flat.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer met analyst expectations for the second quarter with earnings per share of $1.21 and a 0.6% profit increase.

Its stock finished slightly higher for the day.

More people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, although jobless claims continue to be close to pre-recession levels.

The shaky economic recovery in the 18-country eurozone ground to a halt in the second quarter, as the continent's central pillars — Germany and France — were held back by weaker investment by business and by fears over the crisis in Ukraine.

The German economy, the biggest among the countries that use the euro, shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.2% while No. 2 France showed zero growth for the second straight quarter. Italy, the No. 3 economy, shrank.

Despite the news, European benchmarks ended up, with Britain's FTSE gaining 0.4%, Germany's DAX up 0.3% and France's CAC-40 climbing 0.3%.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 continued its winning ways, gaining 0.6%. The Hang Seng lost 0.4% and the Shanghai Composite shed 0.7%.

Contributing: The Associated Press.