US open: Stocks rise as oil prices gain and investors await non-farm payrolls

US stocks rose on Thursday as oil prices gained and traders looked ahead to Friday’s non-farm payrolls report.

At 1504 BST the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.34%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.35% and the Nasdaq grew 0.27%.

At the same time oil prices advanced as a wildfire near Canada’s oil-sands district threatened production. Fighting in Libya also helped to lift prices.

West Texas Intermediate was up 3.8% to $45.52 a barrel and Brent crude was 3.6% firmer at $46.29.

Meanwhile, the weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday revealed a bigger-than-expected increase. Initial jobless claims climbed to 274,000 in the week to 30 April from 257,000 the previous week, worse than forecasts of 260,000.

The report comes ahead of the all-important non-farm payrolls figures on Friday, which are expected to show US employers added 200,000 jobs in April compared to 215,000 in March.

The data will be closely scrutinised by Federal Reserve policymakers as they take into consideration the health of the jobs market in determining the timing of the next interest rate hike.

Last month the Fed voted to keep interest rates unchanged but left the door open to a rate hike in June, saying: “Labour market conditions have improved further even as growth in economic activity appears to have slowed.

In an interview with the New York Times, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he backed down from voting for an interest rate increase at April’s meeting amid weak US growth. Bullard had said he had considered supporting a hike before the meeting but disappointing growth caused him to “dial back some of my projections about [interest rate] policy because of that”.

US gross domestic product has been running at a 1.5% rate over the last four quarters.

In China, the Caixin services purchasing managers' index printed at 51.8 in April, down from March’s 52.2 but still above the 50 mark that separates contraction from expansion.

In corporate news, Whole Foods edged higher after its first-quarter profit released after the close on Wednesday beat expectations.

Alibaba jumped as it reported a 86% surge in fiscal fourth quarter net profit, supported by disposal gains on investments and businesses.

Merck was on the back foot as it posted quarterly revenue that missed forecasts, reflecting disappointing sales of its Januvia diabetes treatment and Remicade arthritis drug.

In currencies, the dollar fell 0.01% against the pound, rose 0.71% versus the euro and climbed 0.26% versus the yen.