U.S. stocks open higher after five straight day of losses for S&P 500

U.S. stock indexes opened modestly higher on Thursday after the S&P 500 booked its five consecutive declines as fears of a recession gripped Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.29%
rose 100 points, or 0.3%, at 33,701. The S&P 500
SPX,
+0.05%
gained 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.17%
advanced 0.3%. The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in early December rose slightly to 230,000, which was exactly in line with the Dow Jones estimate. The weekly number pointed to a slow but steady increase in layoffs as the U.S. economy weakens. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose 6.1 basis points to 3.486% from 3.407% on Wednesday.