WASHINGTON — Wall Street finally has something to be thankful for.

A set of economic reports out yesterday were predictably gloomy, but the stock market continued its winning streak. The Dow Jones industrials rose 247 points, the first time since April 15 to 18 there were four straight days of gains.

The market reversed losses from early in the trading day after President-elect Barack Obama pledged to have a plan to deal with the nation's economic crisis on his first day in office. "Help is on the way," he said.

And traders shrugged off a familiar string of bad economic reports: consumer spending sinking by the most since 2001, jobless claims stuck at recessionary levels, factory orders falling and new-home sales at a nearly 18-year low.

The Dow finished at 8,726. For the four days, the Dow is up more than 15 percent and nearly 1,200 points. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 is up 18 percent. But no one seemed ready to declare the Wall Street carnage over.

"I don't think it's a sign of longer-term stability, but feel this is a sign of shorter-term stability," said Todd Salamone, director of trading and vice president of research at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati. "There's just too much uncertainty out there."

And no one thinks the bleak economic data will end anytime soon, either. Stores have been holding back on holiday hiring this year, and that could further raise the unemployment rate for the next two months. The government will issue the November jobless report next Friday.

Merchants "have basically battened down the hatches," said Brian Bethune, U.S. economist for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight.

Economists think the Labor Department is likely to report next week that employers shed 300,000 to 400,000 jobs in November, with the jobless rate rising from 6.5 percent to as high as 6.8 percent.

The government said yesterday that new unemployment benefit claims fell more than expected last week, after reaching a 16-year high the week before. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell to 529,000, down about 14,000 but well into recession territory.

"We see nothing to suggest claims are near their peak," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a research note. "The trend is still strongly upwards."

Economists consider jobless claims a timely, if volatile, sign of how fast companies are laying off workers. Employees who quit or are fired for cause are not eligible for benefits.

Bethune said retailers and financial services companies are likely to continue making sizable layoffs.

Yesterday, luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. said its third-quarter profit dropped to less than half what it was last year. Tiffany said it would reduce staff but did not say by how much.

The company expects U.S. same-store sales to drop between 25 percent and 35 percent in the November-to-January quarter. At its New York City flagship store, sales were down 17 percent in October.

Banks are ailing, too. Citigroup is cutting 53,000 jobs, JPMorgan Chase plans to cut its investment bank staff by 10 percent, and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. will reduce its workforce by 1,800.

And with the economy hammered, people and businesses alike are spending less. The Commerce Department said consumer spending dropped by 1 percent in October, even worse than the 0.9 percent decline that had been expected.