US stocks gain as jobless claims fall for 3rd straight week

US stocks gain as jobless claims fall for 3rd straight week

US equities edged higher on Thursday as COVID-19 case data and jobless claims showed progress in reaching a full economic recovery.

Investors added to the market's three-day winning streak as weekly filings for unemployment benefits once again landed below estimates. New US jobless claims dropped to an unadjusted 779,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected claims to total 830,000. The reading marks a third straight weekly decline in claims and the lowest reading in two months.

Continuing claims, which track Americans receiving unemployment benefits, fell to 4.7 million for the week that ended January 23. That also beat forecasts.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday:

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"While the trend is down for the last three weeks of numbers, it's too early to predict that this begins a strong reversal of excruciatingly high layoffs," Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said.

The data precedes the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Friday report on hiring through January. Economists expect mild job gains through the month, marking