After ending the previous session little changed, stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.4 percent.

The futures climbed more firmly into positive territory following the release of a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended March 30th.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 221,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 212,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 214,000 from the 210,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 225,000 in the week ended January 27th.

The advance by jobless claims may generate optimism about the outlook for interest rates, although traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs in March after surging by 275,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.9 percent.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit increased to $68.9 billion in February from a revised $67.6 billion in January.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to narrow to $67.0 billion from the $67.4 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The report said the value of imports surged by 2.2 percent to $331.9 billion, while the value of exports shot up by 2.3 percent to $263.0 billion.

Stocks recovered from an initial move to the downside and spent most of Wednesday’s trading session in positive territory. Buying interest waned in the latter part of the session, however, with the major averages eventually ending the day narrowly mixed.

While the Dow edged down 43.10 points or 0.1 percent to 39,127.14, closing lower for the third consecutive session, the S&P 500 crept up 5.68 points or 0.1 percent to 5,211.49 and the Nasdaq rose 37.00 points or 0.2 percent to 16,277.46.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Thursday, with markets in China and Hong Kong closed for a holiday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi jumped by 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are slipping $0.23 to $85.20 a barrel after rising $0.28 to $85.43 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after surging $33.20 to $2,315 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are jumping falling $9.30 to $2,305.70 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 151.67 yen versus the 151.70 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0862 compared to yesterday’s $1.0836.