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U.S. stocks rebound on strong jobless claims report

Xinhua, May 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session Thursday after a two-day sell-off, as U.S. jobless claims data came out positive.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68.04 points, or 0.38 percent, to 17,910.02. The S&P 500 added 6.30 points, or 0. 30 percent, to 2,086.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 18.42 points, or 0.37 percent, to 4,938.07.

In the week ending May 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 265,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 262,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 279,500, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 283,750. This is the lowest level for this average since May 6, 2000 when it was 279, 250.

Meanwhile, investors were still digesting Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's comments. She said Wednesday that risks to financial stability were moderated at this point.

But Yellen stressed low interest rates can certainly create risks for financial stability, saying there are potential dangers, such as high equity market valuations, compressed spreads on high- yield debt, and deterioration in underwriting standards for leveraged loans.

In corporate news, shares of Alibaba soared 6.49 percent in Thursday's early trading after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. The Chinese e-commerce giant announced its revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 was 2,811 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 45 percent year on year.

Shares of Tesla fell 0.97 percent around midday Thursday, though the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results after Wednesday's closing bell. Endite