U.S. stocks open higher after data showing initial jobless claims fell

U.S. stocks opened higher after fresh data showed a drop in weekly jobless claims, signaling that layoffs remain near record lows in a tight labor market even as the U.S. economy slows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.40% was up around 0.1% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.89% gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.18% rose 0.6%, according to FactSet data, at last check. Initial jobless claims in the week ended Aug. 20 fell to a one-month low of 243,000, data released Thursday by the Labor Department show. The U.S. economy contracted at a revised 0.6% annual pace during the second quarter, after shrinking by 1.6% in the first three months of the year, according to a report Thursday from the Commerce Department.