Wall Street opens modestly higher led by strong gains in energy shares

• S&P 500 Energy Index gains around 4% on Thursday.
• More than 6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits.

Wall Street's main indexes started the day modestly higher on Thursday even after the weekly data showed that Initial Jobless Claims in the US climbed to a fresh all-time high of 6.6 million during the week ending March 28th. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.22% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both adding 0.4%.

Oil recovery lifts energy shares

Heightened hopes about the US and Russia working together to balance the oil market and reports suggesting that China is planning to ramp up its oil purchases to take advantage of low prices provided a boost to crude oil prices on Thursday. 

Boosted by rebounding oil prices, the Energy Index is up 4% on the day as the best-performing major S&P 500 sector. On the other hand, the Healthcare Index and the Consumer Staples Index both trade in the negative territory after the opening bell.