US open: Dow flirts with 100-point gain after retail sales, jobless claims data

US stocks advanced early on Thursday, as investors digested a number of economic reports, including data on retail sales and jobless claims.

Just after 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 96 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained nine and 24 points respectively.

Thursday data

US retail sales rose 1.2% to $444.9bn in May compared to a month earlier, as expected by analysts, according to the Department of Commerce on Thursday.

"Together with the more upbeat news from the Quarterly Services Survey released yesterday, first-quarter consumption growth will be revised higher," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

"Indeed, it is now possible that GDP didn't actually contract in the first quarter."

According to figures released by the Labor Department, US import prices grew 1.3% month-on-month in May, compared with a 0.2% decline in April, as fuel imports registered their biggest increase since mid-2009 and surged 11.8%.

On a year-on-year basis, import prices jumped 9.6%.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits in the week to 5 June rose by 2,000 to 279,000, slightly higher than the 275,000 analysts had expected.

Initial claims have remained under the 300,000 mark for the 14th week in a row for the first time since 2000, while the four-week average of new claims over the past month rose by 3,750 to 278,750.

Greek stocks soars on bailout talks

Elsewhere, the Greece’s Athens composite jumped 6.57% as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greek Prime Minister had promised to step up the country’s efforts to reach a deal with its international creditors.

The news drove solid gains in European stocks, while most Asian markets edged higher.

“The US market is still taking its signals from Europe, and if Germany and Greece can come to an arrangement it will be the green light that buyers have been waiting for,” said IG’s analyst David Madden.

The dollar reversed losses from earlier in the week and gained 0.60% against the yen and 0.63% against the euro but was broadly flat against the pound, while gold futures declined 0.74% to $1,177.80.

Oil prices fell, with West Texas Intermediate losing 1.19% to $60.71 a barrel, while Brent shed 1.16% to $64.95 a barrel.

In company news, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts surged 15.9% after the company posted bigger-than-expected profits late on Wednesday.

Cloud-storage group Box jumped 9.78% after its quarterly results beat expectations.

Read more:

US import prices rise for the first time in 11 months in May.

US retail sales rise 1.2% in May, as expected