Stocks rallied on Thursday, with the Nasdaq up for an eighth straight day and all three major U.S. indexes rising 1 percent or more, as strong labor market and retail sales data lifted optimism a day before the U.S. employment report for June.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 125.98 points, or 1.00 percent, to 12,752.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 17.06 points, or 1.27 percent, to 1,356.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 44.61 points, or 1.57 percent, to 2,878.63.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Jan Paschal)