U.S. stocks open higher amid thin holiday trade

NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday, as trading remains thin in a holiday-shortened week.

On the economic front, in the week ending Dec. 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 245,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 237,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 236,000.

U.S. President Donald Trump finally signed a 1.5-trillion-U.S.-dollar tax cut bill into law last week. He called it "a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs," adding that "corporations are literally going wild."

The tax bill, the sweeping rewriting of U.S. tax law since 1986, would cut corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from the current 35 percent and lower individual income rates.

Earnings expectations for the next year look decent, but they could be great with the tax reform, according to the 2018 Market Outlook released by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The tax reform could initially add as much as 19 dollars, or 14 percent, to S&P 500 earnings per share, including a potential three-dollar benefit from repatriation-induced buy backs, said the bank.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 52.85 points, or 0.21 percent, to 24,827.15. The S&P 500 rose 3.22 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,685.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.76 points, or 0.18 percent, to 6,951.10. Enditem