U.S. stocks trade higher around midday despite soft data

U.S. stocks traded mildly higher around midday Thursday, as Wall Street meditated on a batch of weaker-than-expected economic reports.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.19 points, or 0.37 percent, to 16,397.85. The S&P 500 added 2.96 points, or 0.15 percent, to 1,915.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 4.23 points, or 0.09 percent, to 4,508.46.

In the week ending Jan. 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased 8,000 from the previous week's revised level to 285,000, above market consensus of 280,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 284,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average.

In a separate report, the department said that U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 3.0-percent annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2015.

Meanwhile, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in December, down four of the last five months, decreased 13.5 billion U.S. dollars or 2.9 percent to 456.5 billion dollars, the Commerce Department announced Thursday.

The U.S. dollar was also in focus after the previous day's plunge. On Wednesday, the U.S. dollar slumped amid speculation that the Federal Reserve would hold off on further rate hikes.

Fed official William Dudley said on Wednesday that policy makers are "acknowledging that things have happened in financial markets and in the flow of the economic data that may be in the process of altering the outlook for growth and the risk to the outlook for growth going forward."

Analysts said Dudley's remarks hinted that the U.S. central bank may be unable to raise interest rates this year given the country's sluggish economic growth.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks reversed sharp early losses to close mixed, as a strong rebound in oil prices boosted market sentiment. Endite