Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday, supported by the release of upbeat U.S. retail sales and jobless claims data, although disappointing Chinese economic reports released earlier in the day continued to weigh.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.37%, the S&P 500 added 0.29%, while the Nasdaq Composite index edged up 0.26%.
The Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose 0.3% in February, ending two months of declines. Market expectations had been for an increase of 0.2%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, also rose 0.2% last month, ahead of expectations for a 0.3% rise.
Separately, the Department of Labor said the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to a three month low of 315,000 last week, from the previous week’s revised total of 324,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 6,000 last week.
Market sentiment had weakened earlier, after data showed that Chinese industrial production rose 8.6% in the first two months of 2014, missing market expectations for an increase of 9.5%, while Chinese retail sales rose by a smaller-than-forecast 11.8% in the same period.
In the financial sector, Citigroup rose 0.38% as the U.S. lender was said to be considering lowering compensation or shrinking 2014 pay for any employees linked to a $400 million loan fraud at its Banamex unit in Mexico.
Goldman Sachs was up 0.68% after a U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered Fabrice Tourre, one of the bank's former traders, to pay more than $825,000 after a jury found him liable for defrauding investors in a subprime mortgage product that failed during the financial crisis.
Adding to gains, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts surged 5.78% after hiking its yearly outlook.
Meanwhile, Williams-Sonoma saw shares rally 7.92% after the seller of upscale cookware and home furnishings projected 2014 sales above expectations.
On the downside, NetApp Inc. tumbled 1.56% following reports it plans to cut 600 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce, due to slowing sales growth caused in part by declining demand from U.S. federal agencies.
Herbalife plummeted 2.29% a day after the company announced a civil probe into its practices by the Federal Trade Commission, sending shares down over 7% on Wednesday.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed to higher. The EURO STOXX 50 added 0.21%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.21%, Germany's DAX gained 0.34%, while Britain's FTSE 100 eased 0.07%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.67%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slipped 0.10%.
Also Thursday, tensions between Russia and the West escalated ahead of Sunday's referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea region, now controlled by pro-Russian forces, on whether citizens want to join Russia.