Art Cashin, UBS director of floor operations at the NYSE, said European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi provided the stock market a sigh of relief after he held pat on his dovish stance for more monetary stimulus.
"It was, to a degree, what he didn't say," Cashin said.
On Wednesday, there were reports of clashing between Draghi and his central bank counterparts, who were expected to confront him at the central bank's dinner about his management style.
When Draghi reiterated Thursday morning that the ECB Governing Council was unanimous in its commitment to use unconventional instruments if needed, S&P futures, European stocks, the U.S. dollar and bond yields jumped.
The , Dow Industrials and Dow Transports briefly touched record highs before pulling back on reports of a possible violation in the ceasefire agreement in Ukraine.
"The DAX [German stock market] got whacked, but when nothing happened in oil, people figured it was without real substance and now we're coming back," Cashin said.
Stocks got a dose of decent economic data Thursday morning when weekly claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in lower than expected. That has market watchers hopeful we will get a strong jobs report Friday for October.
October nonfarm payrolls are forecast to rise by 233,000.