NEW YORK -- Wall Street finished up slightly Thursday after trading down for most of the day on reports of falling oil prices and increased jobless claims.
The Dow Jones Industrials rose 2.51 or .03 percent to close at 10,004.54 while the Nasdaq went up 5.75 or 29 percent to 1,975.74 and the Standard and Poor's 500 increased 2.04 or 18 percent to 1,127.44.
The Labor Department said initial unemployment claims rose last week by a larger-than-expected 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000, far higher than the rise of 7,000 expected by economists. The data suggested an uneven job-market recovery.
Crude-oil prices fell $2.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid a sell-off put in motion by U.S. government petroleum-inventory data and an OPEC plea for the release of petroleum from America's strategic stockpile.
The 10-year Treasury note rose 6/32 for a 4.06 percent yield.
The dollar traded at 106.14 yen from 106.46 and the euro traded at $1.2745 from $1.2706.
In London, the FTSE closed up 12.70 or 0.27 percent.Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 161.17 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 10.853.12.
