U.S. stock indices closed higher for the second session in a row on short-covering amid a lack of data from the world's largest economy, and after Saint Louis Fed president James Bullard said the Fed should wait before tightening policy due to weak data recently.

Bullard said he expects growth to pick up in the second quarter, but might not reach 2%, while he doesn't expect falling unemployment rates to have an impact on inflation. 

He pointed to the fall in U.S. long-term treasury bonds and the downgrading of inflation forecasts in March as a reason to delay tightening the policy, while asserting the importance of cutting the Federal budget from its current 4.5 trillion to allow for more rate hikes later. 

In the U.S., vice Attorney General Rod Rosenstein hired former FBI chief Robert Mueller as a special prosecutor in Russia's intervention in U.S. elections, which led to Donald Trump as the 45th president. 

Hopes faded for wide economic reforms by president Trump in healthcare, tax reforms and others after reports said that Trump asked former FBI chief to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Micheal Flyn's relation with Russia, sparking speculation about Trump's firing of Comey later as retribution, as the earnings season just ended, leading to deep losses to Wall Street on Wednesday. 

Dow Jones rose 0.69%, or 141.82 points to 20,804.84, while Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.68%, or 16.01 points to 2,381.73. NASDAQ Composite added 0.47%, or 28.57 points to 6,083.70. 

Gold futures due on June 15 rose 0.19% to $1,255.20 an ounce from the opening of $1,252.80, while the dollar index fell 0.77% to 97.13 from the opening of 97.79, marking a six-month low. 

On another note, U.S. crude futures due on June 15 rose 2.07% to $50.37 a barrel from the opening of $49.35, while Brent crude futures due on July 16 rallied 2.17% to $53.65 a barrel from the opening of $52.51.