Wall Street opens higher shrugging off bleak GDP, jobless claims data

Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Thursday, shrugging off data which showed another sharp contraction in the US economy and a rise in weekly jobless claims.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.0 points, or 0.24%, at the open to 30377.19. The S&P 500 rose 5.0 points, or 0.13%, at the open to 3755.75, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 52.7 points, or 0.40%, to 13323.294 at the opening bell.