Stocks stabilized after a choppy start to Thursday's session, with the main indexes climbing into the close. In focus were a heavy batch of economic data as well as a number of high-profile earnings reports.
The Census Bureau's release of June retail sales data was the marquee event on today's economic calendar. The report showed that retail sales rose 0.6% from May to June. This is much better than the 0.9% decline seen in May and the 0.2% increase economists expected.
