NEW YORK, April 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as Wall Street cheered a slew of strong economic data.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.52 points, or 0.21 percent, to 26,505.06. The S&P 500 was up 4.16 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,904.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 1.33 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,997.41.
Of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors, industrials and health care rallied while real estate and communication services struggled.
The advance estimates of U.S. retail sales were 514.1 billion U.S. dollars in March, an increase of 1.6 percent from the previous month, as spending on autos, gasoline, furniture, and clothing jumped, according to the Department of Commerce on Thursday. The reading was higher than market consensus.
Meanwhile, in the week ending April 13, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 192,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch forecast a 204,000 reading.
U.S. equities were pressured on Wednesday as major health care shares declined, dragging the market.
