NEW YORK - The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 10,000 points Wednesday, passing the symbolic mark for the first time since Oct 2008 as the world economy pulls out of recession.

Investors pushed the Dow above 10,000 points on the back of better-than-expected retail sales figures and strong third-quarter earnings reports from technology and financial firms.

The blue-chip Dow last closed above the important mark Oct 3, 2008, at the start of a debilitating financial crisis that plunged the world into its worst recession since World War II.

Major US stock indices have recovered more than 50 percent of their losses since hitting a 12-year-low in March. The buoyant trading has been linked to signs that the financial markets have stabilised and the US has begun to pull out of recession.

The Dow gained 144.8 points, or 1.47 percent, to close at 10,015.86. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500 Index jumped 18.83 points, or 1.75 percent, to 1,092.02. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index surged 32.34 points, or 1.51 percent, to 2,172.23.

The Federal Reserve, releasing minutes of its last policy meeting, said Wednesday that economic activity in the US has picked up over the last few months and raised its growth forecasts for the coming year.

But the central bank warned the recovery will not be strong enough to make a serious dent in unemployment, which currently sits at a 28-year high of 9.8 percent. The Fed sees the jobless rate dropping to 9.25 percent by the end of 2010.

US retail sales dropped 1.5 percent in September from the previous month, the sharpest drop this year according to the US Census Bureau.

But the drop was less than expected and mostly the result of a plunge in car sales plunged with the end of the government’s popular cash-for-clunkers programme. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales increased on the month.

Wall Street’s rally was aided by financial shares after banking giant JP Morgan Chase said third-quarter profits rose almost seven-fold from last year to $3.59 billion, far surpassing analysts’ expectations.

Technology shares gained after Intel, the world’s largest maker of computer chips, reported higher than expected quarterly earnings of $1.9 billion Tuesday afternoon.

The US currency fell to 67.01 euro cents from 67.37 euro cents Tuesday. The dollar slipped against the Japanese currency to 89.41 yen from 89.65 yen.