European stocks rose on Thursday, with Germany's DAX index up 185 points, or 1.81% to 10,423. France's CAC 40 rose 86 points, or 1.86%. Britain's FTSE 100 was more muted, as some corporate results disappointed investors. It was last up 12 points, or 0.20% to 6,361.

U.S. indexes followed suit, with Dow Jones rising 150 points, or 0.88% to 17,320. NASDAQ rose 49 points, or 1.07% to 4,891. S&P 500 rose 20 points, or 0.99% to 2,038.

Dollar rose sharply as unemployment claims came at 259K, much better than the 266K expected, and near a 42-year low. The dollar index (DXY) rose 1.03% to 96.02. Dollar rallied against Euro, rising 1.60% to a three-week high at 1.1163. Against Yen it sped past a two-week high, trading at 120.39. It erased almost all of its early losses against Sterling, to trade at 1.5402.

Sterling was given a big push after British retail sales volumes rose an impressive 1.9% m\m in September, vastly outpacing expectations of a 0.3% rise. Commentators cite the Rugby World Cup that's being played out now in England and Wales as the main booster of sales, specially beer. Sterling smashed Euro to register a one-month high at 0.7244. Against Yen it rose to 185.50.

Euro took a knock-off after ECB said that it's going to review what more it can do in December regarding the enlargement of its program to spur growth. It kept its interest rate and quantitative easing program unchanged for today.  Beside its massive losses against dollar, sterling, it fell to near a three-week low against Yen to 134.35.

Brent futures for December rose 72 cents, or 1.53% to $48.57 a barrel. U.S. crude futures rose 77 cents, or 1.70% to $45.97 a barrel.

Spot gold was down $1.20, or 0.10% to $1,166.28 an ounce. Silver gained 13 cents, or 0.81% to $15.82 an ounce.