Wall Street opens higher with positive data, oil rise

NEW YORK (AA) - Wall Street opened higher Thursday with positive macroeconomic data and rise in oil prices.

The Dow added 11 points to begin trading at 19,816. The S&P 500 was up two points to 2,273.

The Nasdaq rose 12 points to start the day at 5,567.

Housing starts was up 11.3 percent in December, from the previous month, to reach 1.2 million, beating market expectation of a 9 percent increase, according to the Department of Commerce.

Initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 234,000 for the week ending Jan. 14, beating market expectation of 252,000, according to the Department of Labor.

At the first bell, oil prices were on the rise. American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 1.2 percent to $51.71 a barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude was at $54.52 -- a 1.1 percent increase.