Thursday's early afternoon trade: stocks up slightly as tumultuous quarter winds down

Wall Street was set to end a tumultuous first quarter on a quiet note with the three major indexes eking out small gains on Thursday, led by healthcare stocks. Worries about the global economy caused a steep selloff in stocks at the start of the year, before a rebound in oil prices sparked a recovery. Investors held off on making big bets on Thursday ahead of the critical US non-farm payrolls report due on Friday. Crude oil rose slightly, hovering near $40 a barrel.
Data on Thursday showed US jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week but remained well below the 300,000 mark, denoting a healthy labour market. Friday's report will give investors a clearer reading on the state of the economy. "Everyone continues to search for information about where the economy is and if it is really firming up like we think and hope it is," said Dan Farley, regional investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
"The market is just waiting for some of these big data points to come out tomorrow and in a sense is taking a breather today," Farley said, adding that investors were also concerned about corporate earnings growth. At 12:37 pm ET (1637 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 20.72 points, or 0.12 percent, at 17,737.38, the S&P 500 was up 2.13 points, or 0.1 percent, at 2,066.08 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 19.42 points, or 0.4 percent, at 4,888.72. Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors posted meager gains, with a 0.4 percent rise in the healthcare sector leading the way.