US stocks open higher in final session of third quarter

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks opened higher Thursday as investors weighed an uptick in jobless claims and the diminishing odds of a US government shutdown ahead of a congressional deadline.

New claims for US unemployment benefits rose for the third straight week in an apparent sign of the drag from the Delta variant of Covid-19, but the rate of increase was lower than the prior two weeks.

The Senate was expected to approve later Thursday a stopgap measure to fund the government and avert a shutdown. However Washington remains mired in partisan conflict over President Joe Biden's wider legislative agenda.

"We're in a choppy period," said Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisors, who pointed to Washington uncertainty as a source of volatility.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 34,451.81.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to 4,380.29, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.8 percent to 14,632.23.

US stocks open higher after steep losses

Among individual companies, Acceleron Pharma fell 0.3 percent after it announced an agreement to be acquired by Merck for $11.5 billion. Shares of Acceleron had risen earlier in the week following reports of the likely deal. Merck rose 1.4 percent.

Bed Bath & Beyond plunged 25 percent as the company reported disappointing quarterly results and cut its forecast, citing a "challenging environment" due to the Delta variant.

Thursday marks the conclusion of the third quarter of trading following a rocky September for indices. Nonetheless, the S&P 500 is currently up almost two percent for the period.