schema:articleBody
| - Wall Street stocks opened higher Thursday, extending the prior session's positive thrust followed mixed US labor data and continued dim prospects for additional stimulus spending from Washington. About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent at 28,090.53. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 3,413.74, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.7 percent to 11,217.32. New jobless claims last week came in at 884,000, the same as the level of the week prior and indicating that an exceptionally large number of workers are still facing layoffs months into the coronavirus crisis. In Congress, lawmakers remain far apart on another round of stimulus spending, with Republicans pushing for a pared-down bill and pointing to strength in the housing market and elsewhere as signs that a broader relief package isn't needed. Among individual companies, Citigroup jumped 1.1 percent after naming Jane Fraser as its first female chief executive, replacing outgoing chief Michael Corbat. Thursday's early gains came after US indices rallied Wednesday to snap a three-day losing streak that hit technology stocks especially hard. jmb/cs
|