U.S. stocks open mildly higher as rally continues

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday, with all three indices trading in record highs, as investors cheered on a recent rally and awaited a batch of corporate earnings reports.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 18.03 points, or 0.09 percent, to 20,086.54. The S&P 500 rose 1.21 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,299.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 11.48 points, or 0.20 percent, to 5,667.81.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday closed above the psychological mark of 20,000 points for the first time ever, while the other two major indices also finished at record highs, boosted by a batch of generally positive earnings reports.

Most analysts attributed Wednesday's increases to a continuous "Trump Rally." U.S. stocks posted solid gains after Donald Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 8, with the Dow going up over 9 percent till Wednesday, as investors bet that he would pursue massive corporate tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spending.

In corporate news, shares of Caterpillar dropped 1.44 percent early Thursday, as the world's leading construction and mining equipment manufacturer reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings but revenue shy of forecasts.

Alphabet, Intel, Microsoft and Starbucks are among the companies due to report quarterly earnings after Thursday's closing bell.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the fourth quarter of 2016 are expected to rise 6.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 4.1 percent.

On the economic front, in the week ending Jan. 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 259,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday. Endi