US stocks rise on solid hiring data

New York - Wall Street stocks opened higher on Thursday after data showed falling weekly unemployment benefits claims and solid-private sector hiring in June.

The US Labour Department said initial jobless claims fell by 16 000 to 254 000 in the week ending July 2, near a three-month low. Separately, private payrolls firm ADP said companies added 172 000 jobs in June, slightly higher than the 168 000 positions created in May.

The data came ahead of Friday's highly anticipated June jobs report from the Labour Department. The report is expected to show the US added 175 000 jobs last month, after a paltry 38,000 gain in May.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 949.58 points, up 0.2%.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 2 104.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3% to 4 875.52.