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NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks rose in the morning session on Thursday, as investors mainly focused on economic data and a speech from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 128.03 points, or 0.64 percent, to 20,182.37. The S&P 500 rose 13.98 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,308.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 38.09 points, or 0.67 percent, to 5,720.55.
On the economic front, in the week ending Feb. 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 234,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week' s unrevised level of 246,000, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.
Meanwhile, Fed official Bullard said U.S. interest rates can remain low throughout at least 2017, with no clear sense yet of whether the new Trump administration's policies will touch off higher inflation or growth, according to reports.
In corporate news, shares of Twitter tumbled over 10 percent in the early trading Thursday, after the social media giant posted weaker-than-expected financial results of fourth quarter last year.
The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the fourth quarter of 2016 are expected to rise 8.3 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 4.3 percent.
U.S. stocks finished mixed Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index eclipsing previous day's closing record, as investors digested a slew of corporate earnings reports. Enditem
