Stocks Opened Mostly Higher after Jobless Claims Report

U.S. stocks opened mostly higher on Thursday as traders looked past another dismal U.S. weekly jobless claims report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 48.23 points, 0.19%, to 25,596.50. The S&P 500 gained 6.16 points or 0.20%, to 3,042.29. The Nasdaq Composite added 19.99 points or 0.21%, to 9,432.34.

Oil futures lost ground Thursday after data from a U.S. industry trade group showed a rise in crude inventories, raising questions over whether expectations for a sharp recovery in demand were overdone. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell 28 cents, or 0.9%, to $32.53 a barrel, while August Brent crude was off 20 cents, or 0.6%, at $36.25 a barrel.

More than 2.1 million unemployed Americans applied for state unemployment benefits in the week ended May 23, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The top two U.S. dollar store chains reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit on Thursday, benefiting from a surge in demand for affordable groceries and household essentials amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dollar General Corp (DG) reportednet sales rose 27.6% to $8.45 billion in the first quarter ended May 1. Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) said sales only rose 8.2% to $6.29 billion in the first quarter.