US open: Dow and S&P climb on jobless claims report

US stocks edged higher on Thursday, with investor sentiment buoyed by a better-than-expected jobless claims report, while oil prices rebounded.

Just before 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 25 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 0.94 and 7 points, respectively.

Claims for unemployment benefits in the States rose by 14,000 last week, though the monthly moving average fell to its lowest level since 2000.

Initial weekly jobless claims totalled 281,000 in the week ended 4 April, from a revised 267,000 the week before, according to the Labor Department on Thursday.

Nevertheless, the jump was not as bad as feared, with the consensus estimate at 283,000.

The previous week's data was revised down by 1,000 to its lowest level since April 2000.

“Initial and continuing claims at post-recession lows suggest that US labor markets remain solid, despite the weaker-than-expected growth in March payrolls reported last Friday,” analysts at Barclays said in a note.

In company news, Alcoa slid over 3.2% after the aluminium maker, which kicked off the earnings season late on Wednesday, said revenue had missed forecasts and pointed to a challenging outlook.

Game services provider Zynga slumped almost 14.8% after announcing late on Wednesday that its chief executive Don Mattrick had left the company with immediate effect.

Retailer Bed Bath & Beyond fell 3.5% despite reporting fourth-quarter earnings that were in line with expectations late on Wednesday.

Semiconductor group Altera Corp saw its shares fall over 6%, after reports emerged claiming that talks with tech giant Intel over a possible takeover had broken down.

US listed shares of Australian biotech group Novogen jumped almost 40% after the group said its experimental drug Anisina was effective against Melanoma cells.

Asian stocks closed higher on Thursday, driven by a 2.7% jump in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, while the Stoxx Europe 600 index was on track to close at an all-time high.

Having tumbled over 6% on Wednesday in the wake of rising inventories, crude prices staged a steady rebound, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 1% to $50.97 a barrel, while Brent crude gained $2% to $56.71 a barrel.

The dollar gained 0.63% and 0.47% against the pound and the euro respectively and was stable against the yen, while gold futures slid 0.30% to $1,199.50.