U.S. stocks open higher amid positive earnings

U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as Wall Street tried to rebound from the previous day's heavy sell-off amid positive earnings.

Before Thursday's opening bell, JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The U.S. bank reported a net income of 5.4 billion U.S. dollars for the fourth quarter of 2015, on revenue of 23.7 billion dollars. Its shares rose about 1 percent in early trading.

On the economic front, in the week ending Jan. 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 284,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 278,750, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 275,750.

Meanwhile, oil prices were still in focus on Thursday, one day after the Brent crude briefly traded below 30 dollars a barrel for the first time since April 2004.

Both the U.S. oil and Brent crude traded about 1 percent higher in early session Thursday.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.86 points, or 0.15 percent, to 16,176.27. The S&P 500 added 4.18 points, or 0.22 percent, to 1,894.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 12.52 points, or 0.28 percent, to 4,538.59.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks suffered big losses on the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, while renewed pressure on oil prices continued to weigh on Wall Street. Endi