US stock market opens higher

NEW YORK (AA) - With positive macroeconomic data, the stock market opened higher Thursday to begin the first trading day of September on a higher note.

The Dow Jones rose 17 points to begin the day at 18,418 and the S&P 500 was up one point at 2,172. The Nasdaq increased nine points to start the day at 5,222.

Initial jobless claims last week rose by 263,000, according to the Labor Department earlier Thursday.

The market consensus was an increase of 265,000. The jobless claims for the week ending August 20 was not revised and kept at 262,000.

On Wednesday, Wall Street closed lower with the loss in oil prices. During August, the Dow and the S&P lost 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. However, the Nasdaq finished the month with a one percent gain.

Oil prices continued to decline on Thursday.

At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 1.5 percent to $43.92 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude traded at $46.09 a barrel -- a 1.6 percent decline.