US stock market opens higher

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The U.S. stock market opened higher Thursday thanks to positive macroeconomic data and a rise in oil prices.

The Dow gained 32 points to 20,086 and the S&P 500 rose three points to 2,298.

The Nasdaq rose 10 points to begin trading at 5,692.

Initial jobless claims fell to 234,000 last week, the lowest level in past three months, the Department of Labor announced earlier Thursday.

Oil prices were up by more than 1 percent when Wall Street opened.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $53.16 -- a 1.5 percent gain. International benchmark Brent crude was at $55.78 a barrel -- a 1.1 percent increase.