Bouncing back from Wednesday's falls, investors were cheered by strong June trading figures from Wal-Mart and some of the other main retailers.

Further boosted by a rise in the shares of aluminium giant Alcoa, the Dow Jones ended up more than 2% to over 13,800.

The Dow has achieved a string of record closing highs this year.

'Surprise figures'

Analysts said the upbeat June sales figures was enough to make investors at least temporarily forget the recent woes in the housing sector that saw shares fall sharply on Wednesday

With weakness in the housing market...the biggest concern was that we were going to see bad numbers from the retailers

Analyst Eric Kuby

Alcoa was the biggest riser on the Dow Jones, its shares adding 6.2% after its bid for Canadian rival Alcan appeared to have been trumped by a higher offer from Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto.

Analysts said losing out on Alcan could make Alcoa a takeover target itself.

"The surprise of the day is that the consumer is still spending at a healthy rate," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management

"With weakness in the housing market...the biggest concern was that we were going to see bad numbers from the retailers, but we're seeing the opposite."