US stock market opens higher

Oil prices up by almost 1 percent

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The stock market opened higher Thursday as oil prices rose and initial jobless claims came below market expectations.

The Dow added three points to begin the day at 20,651 points and the S&P 500 rose less than 1 point to open flat at 2,353 points.

The Nasdaq increased 8 points to start trading at 5,873 points.

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose by 25,000 to 234,000 for the week ending April 1, the Department of Labor announced earlier Thursday, beating the market expectation of 250,000.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $51.58 per barrel with a 0.8 percent gain; international benchmark Brent crude was at $54.83 with a 0.9 percent increase.

Kaynak:

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