NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks climbed early Thursday following a drop in weekly initial jobless claims that eased worries about an economic slowdown.

Initial jobless claims were 233,000, down 17,000 from the prior week, according to the US Labor Department.

“Initial claims remain more consistent with a mild slowdown than a brewing recession for now,” said a note from Pantheon Macroeconomics.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.2 percent at 39,207.46.

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The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 1.1 percent to 5,257.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.0 percent to 16,362.50.

Markets have been nervous about the US economy since last Friday’s monthly jobs report, prompting losses that intensified with Monday’s rout.

After the market’s brutal session on Monday, stocks staged a partial rebound on Tuesday. Stocks opened higher on Wednesday but finished down.

Among individual companies, Eli Lilly surged 8.9 percent, boosted by strong sales of drugs that treat diabetes, weight loss and metastatic breast cancers.