By Geoffrey Rogow, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday as investors pushed up technology and health-care shares and digested another encouraging report on the jobless front.
Just after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 9,983, +180.70, +1.84%) gained 126 points, or 1.3%, to 9929. Gains were led by Cisco Systems (CSCO 23.87, +0.58, +2.49%) , up 2.5%, after the networking gear's better-than-expected first-quarter report.
Among other indexes, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX 1,063, +16.82, +1.61%) gained 1.3% to 1061, while the Nasdaq Composite (COMP 2,102, +46.82, +2.28%) increased 37 points, or 1.8%, to 2093.
Technology issues started out strong, further helped by a stock buyback by Research In Motion (RIMM 58.68, +1.07, +1.85%) , which traded up 2.5% in the early going.
IMS Health (RX 20.85, +4.04, +24.03%) shares spiked after the company agreed to be bought by investment funds managed by TPG Capital and the CPP Investment Board in a deal worth $5.2 billion, including the assumption of debt. IMS shareholders will receive $22 a share in cash for each share of IMS, a 50% premium.
Also helping stocks, the Labor Department reported that the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits declined more than economists expected last week, while total claims lasting more than one week also decreased.
Initial claims for jobless benefits, which decreased by 20,000 to 512,000 in the week that ended Oct. 31, hit their lowest level since Jan. 3. The previous week's level was revised to 532,000. See story on jobless claims.
In a separate report, U.S. productivity grew during the third quarter by the most in six years, a sign that employers continue to fire workers to save money. More about the third-quarter productivity increase.
Investors largely viewed the two pieces of data as encouraging signs ahead of Friday's heavily watched October nonfarm payrolls report.
A day after the Federal Reserve chose to keep its key benchmark interest rate unchanged and signaled rates would be low for a significant period of time, financials pushed higher at the start.
Retailers' October sales reports were also being watched with Children's Place Retail Stores (PLCE 34.85, +2.45, +7.56%) and Gap (GPS 22.88, +0.79, +3.55%) advancing after their figures, while Kohl's declined.
Following the Fed's decision, the Bank of England expanded its quantitative-easing program by 25 billion pounds, or roughly $41 billion. As expected, interest rates were kept at 0.5%. The European Central Bank kept rates at 1%. The moves had little impact on the dollar, which was up just slightly against the euro recently.
Oil futures traded off 21 cents to just above $80 a barrel, while gold futures were perched near record highs. Crude falls first day in four
