Wall Street rebounds on upbeat data; Dow up 0.31 percent

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (AFP) - US stocks pushed higher at the opening Thursday as news of a drop in US jobless claims and a narrow trade deficit fueled a rebound from a selloff a day earlier.
In the first five minutes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 32.66 points (0.31 percent) to 10,696.77 and the Nasdaq added 5.48 points (0.27 percent) to 2,058.03.
Providing a positive backdrop for the open was the Labor Department report that the number of US workers filing for jobless benefits dropped to 303,000 in the week ended February 5 -- the lowest in four years.
Also, the Commerce Department said the US trade deficit narrowed by 4.9 percent in December to 56.4 billion dollars, in line with Wall Street's forecast.
"The big question will be whether this is just a bounce following yesterday's broad-based decline or whether yesterday was really just a one day affair," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clark LLC.

02/10/2005 14:40 GMT - AFP