U.S. stocks open higher amid corporate earnings

NEW YORK, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday, as investors were optimistic about the fourth quarter corporate earnings season.

Shares of Delta rose over 1 percent in early trading Thursday, after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Meanwhile, financial giants J.P. Morgan Chase, BlackRock and Wells Fargo are among the companies scheduled to release results Friday.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the fourth quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 11.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 6.9 percent.

On the economic front, in the week ending Jan. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 261,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 250,000, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 250,750, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 241,750.

In another report, U.S. Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.1 percent in December, seasonally adjusted.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 48.77 points, or 0.19 percent, to 25,417.90. The S&P 500 rose 5.61 points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,753.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12.82 points, or 0.18 percent, to 7,166.39. Enditem