NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose for a third day on Thursday after Standard & Poor's cut General Electric's credit rating by just one notch below "AAA" and signaled no further downgrades loomed while data suggested some stabilization in consumer spending.
The S&P 500 financials index <.GSPF> was up 3 percent.
Sentiment was also lifted by news of a takeover in the biotechnology sector and the S&P health-care sector index <.GSPA> rose about 4 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 122.89 points, or 1.77 percent, to 7,053.29, near its session high. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> added 14.02 points, or 1.94 percent, to 735.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 22.43 points, or 1.64 percent, to 1,394.07.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Jan Paschal)
