US open: Stocks higher following better-than-expected GDP data

US stocks were on the front foot on Thursday following news that the country’s economy grew more than expected last quarter.

At 1546 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.42% to 20,746.53, the S&P 500 added 0.34% to 2,369.08, and the Nasdaq was 0.27% firmer at 5,913.66.

Meanwhile, oil prices advanced, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.92% to $49.97 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.45% to $52.66.

The indices have mostly recovered from a slump after senior Republicans withdrew their support for Trump’s repeal of Obamacare last Friday. However, investors are still waiting to see if he will face the same problems in trying to push through his proposals for tax reform in Congress.

Fourth quarter GDP was revised up to 2.1% from 1.9%, boosted by an upgrade in personal consumption to 3.5%, while core personal consumption expenditures was also revised higher to 1.3% from 1.2%, which is below the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said that Fed chair Janet Yellen is “probably right to suggest GDP data can be ‘noisy’. It’s shouting loud today but it’s hard to make out precisely what it’s telling markets”.

“The best guess for the first quarter is hard to establish – the Atlanta Fed estimates 1%, while the New York Fed thinks it’s closer to 3%. Split the difference and a steady 2% gain looks okay and in line with the fourth quarter. A healthy 3.5% leap in consumer spending bodes well and chimes with what we are seeing in terms of soaring consumer confidence”, he said.

The GDP revision sent the dollar higher, with the greenback up 0.34% against the euro to 0.9321 and 0.24% higher versus the yen to 111.31.

The dollar was down 0.48% against the pound to 0.8002 as Britain got on with Brexit, with the government proposing the Great Repeal Bill to replace EU laws with British law, a day after triggering Article 50 and starting a two-year clock on divorce proceedings with the bloc.

In other data, jobless claims dipped to 258,000 from 261,000, slightly above the 247,000 consensus for the week ended 25 March. The previous week’s reading was unchanged.

Investors were also eyeing more speeches by Fed officials. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will speak at the Chicago Fed’s annual risk conference, while San Francisco Fed President John Williams will appear on a panel discussion at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York.

In addition, Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan will appear in a question and answer session at the US Chamber of Commerce.

On the corporate front, Cenovus Energy tumbled 11.2% after ConocoPhillips said late on Wednesday that it would sell the majority of its Canadian oil sands assets to the company.

Lululemon Athletica plunged 22.1% on Wednesday after its fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts’ expectations and it forecast lower profit and sales in the first quarter.