US stocks open higher amid earnings deluge

New York - Wall Street stocks on Thursday opened higher on a heavy day of corporate earnings reports, pulling up from a two-day skid that cut nearly 500 points off the Dow.

Six minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 262.14, up 70.77 points (0.41%).

The broad-based S&P 500 added 4.95 (0.25%) at 2 007.11, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.22 (0.11%) at 4 643.22.

Earnings from Colgate-Palmolive, Facebook and Ford Motor all topped expectations, although Chinese Internet shopping giant Alibaba reported weak sales and several other companies offered disappointing forecasts.

Initial jobless claims, an often-volatile sign of the pace of US layoffs, plunged to the lowest level in nearly 15 years last week, the Department of Labour reported .

Markets had dropped sharply on Wednesday on worries about the strong US dollar, plunging oil prices and eurozone uncertainty after the radical-left Syriza party's victory in the Greek election.