Investors were encouraged by a fall in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the past week. In response to the upgrade in production targets by Airbus, shares in Boeing rose by 3.9% with shares in General Electric up by 7.1%. The Dow Jones index rose by 142 points or 0.4%. The S&P 500 index lifted 0.1%. But the Nasdaq index fell by just 2 points or less than 0.1%.