Wall Street opens in the green despite jobs data miss

The main indices on Wall Street have started Thursday’s session on the front foot despite jobs data falling short of expectations. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.51% at 34,047 while the S&P 500 climbed 0.56% to 4,265 and the Nasdaq rose 0.64% to 14,363. The higher open came despite the latest weekly jobless figures, which fell by 7,000 to 411,000 last week but were still higher than the forecast figure of 380,000. The previous week's number was revised up from 412,000 to 418,000 while the four week moving average rose by 1,500 to 397,750. Meanwhile, orders for durable goods - long lasting items such as cars - rose by 2.3% in May to US$253.3bn after a dip in April. But again this was below the estimated 2.8% rise. 7:55am: Wall Street to start higher Wall Street is expected to open higher ahead of more key economic figures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is set to climb 0.5% or 180 points, while the S&P 500 is showing a 0.47% gain. The Nasdaq Composite, which hit another new peak on Wednesday, is indicated 0.56% higher. Among the data due, weekly jobless claims are forecast to drop to 380,000 after a surprise jump the previous week to 412,000. Sophie Griffiths at Oanda said: " Initial jobless claims are expected to resume the downtrend after an unexpected jump last week. Any sign of further weakness in the labour market recovery could drag the US dollar lower." Durable goods orders for May are likely to show a pick-up following a fall in April, when the global semiconductor shortage caused backlogs in the automotive sector. Four things to watch for on Thursday: Big names in the earnings calendar today include sportswear firm Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), consultancy firm Accenture PLC (LON:ACN) and parcel delivery firm FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) will be of interest after it reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that beat estimates Forex markets may also be of interest after the pound slipped following the Bank of England’s latest decision on interest rates On the macro front, aside from jobless claims and durable goods, investors may also be keeping an eye on the US final GDP reading