NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks rose Thursday after a solid US retail sales report suggested American consumers are gaining confidence after a sluggish first quarter.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,045.44, up 45.04 points (0.25 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 4.03 (0.19 per cent) to 2,109.23, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 5.82 (0.11 per cent) at 5,082.51.

US retail sales in May rose 1.2 per cent, according to Commerce Department data, better than the 1.1 per cent gain projected by analysts.