Stocks jump as S&P 500 closes just shy of record

Stocks jumped Thursday as the S&P 500 moved within two points of its record closing high and the Nasdaq hit its highest level since March 2000.

Investors were encouraged as a cease-fire announced by Russia and Ukraine offset disappointment that debt-strapped Greece and its creditors have yet to seal a deal to get that country's finances in order.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index jumped 19.95 points, or 0.9%, to 2088.48. That was the broad-based index's highest close of 2015 and put it about two points shy of its all-time closing high of 2090.57 set on Dec. 29, 2014.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 110.24 points, or 0.6%, to 17,972.38. Cisco (CSCO) led the Dow higher as shares jumped 9% after reporting earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Gains were led by technology stocks as the Nasdaq composite index shot up 6.64 points, or 1.2%, to 4857.61.

Energy stocks jumped as the price of oil rebounded following two days of heavy losses. Benchmark U.S. crude gained $2.37, or 4.9%, to $51.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In economic news:

• The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped last week, though it is still at relatively low levels pointing to healthy hiring.

Jobless claims rose 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 304,000, the Labor Department said. The four-week average fell to 289,750.

• Retail sales fell sharply in January on lower gasoline prices and a drop-off in auto sales. Sales declined 0.8% after sliding 0.9% the previous month, substantially more than the 0.4% economists expected, the Commerce Department said.

News from abroad again drove the early price action on Wall Street. Word that a Russian-Ukraine cease fire would take effect Sunday was viewed as good news by global investors, as it eases some of the geopolitical fears that have been weighing on markets in 2015.

And even though negotiations between Greece and Eurozone finance ministers has yet to lead to an agreement that would enable Athens to avoid default and a possible exit from the Eurozone, Wall Street was hopeful that a resolution is reachable when the two sides reconvene for talks Monday.

Stocks in Europe got a lift from the cease-fire announcement. The broad Stoxx 600 index climbed 0.8%, while the DAX ended up 1.6% in Germany and the CAC 40 in France finished 1% higher. Stocks were also sharply higher in Russia, where the RTS index gained 3.6%. In Greece, the Athens Stock Exchange General Index soared 6.7%.

Any good news on the geopolitical front is supportive of jittery financial markets.

"The Ukraine cease-fire eases markets despite ongoing Greece uncertainty," said Guillermo Felices, an analyst at Barclays specializing in asset allocation.

Earlier Thursday, Sweden became the latest country to launch a government bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing, to boost growth. The country's central bank also cut a key interest rate. The yield is now negative -0.1%, which means investors pay the government to hold their money for them. The goal of negative rates is to spur investors to put their cash to more productive uses.

Contributing: Paul Davidson, Associated Press.