U.S. markets made modest gains Thursday morning after the Labor Department said first-time unemployment claims fell sharply in the latest weekly report.
The department said there were 31,000 fewer initial claims filed in the week ending Aug. 21, although the four-week rolling average moved up by 3,250 claims to 486,750.
In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average added 19.37 points, 0.19 percent, to 10,079.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.37 percent, 3.95, to 1,059.28. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.29 percent, 6.23, to 2,147.77.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 3/32 to yield 2.529 percent.
The euro rose to $1.2737 from Wednesday's $1.265. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 84.48 yen from Wednesday's 84.71 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.69 percent, 61.09, to 8,906.48.
