4:10 pm : A new 52-week low for the Dollar Index and a generally pleasing batch of economic data helped stocks make their way higher. However, buyers lacked the potency to push through resistance near 2009 highs as participation lacked ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Renewed pressure against the U.S. dollar sent the Dollar Index to a 1.1% loss, its worst single-session percentage drop in nearly four months. The drop also put the Dollar Index at a fresh 12-month low, but gave a broad lift to the equity market.

Participants were also generally pleased by the latest dose of data, which showed that personal income for October increased 0.2% and personal spending for October increased 0.7%. Respective increases of 0.1% and 0.7% had been widely expected. Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for October made a month-over-month increase of 0.2%, which exceeded the 0.1% increase that had been forecast.

Initial jobless claims for the week ending November 21 fell more than expected to 466,000, which marks the first time in one year that initial claims fell below 500,000. Meanwhile, continuing claims fell more than expected to 5.42 million, which marks a multimonth low. However, the decline in continuing claims still stems mostly from the expiration of unemployment benefits.

New home sales spiked a surprisingly strong 6.2% in October to an annualized rate of 430,000. The consensus had called for a mere 0.4% increase.