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US Stocks open higher after plunging a day earlier

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-23 21:58

NEW YORK -- Stocks are rebounding in early trading after a drubbing the previous session as investors are buying beaten-down stocks even as they absorb disappointing economic news - a larger-than-expected increase in jobless claims.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, October 22, 2008. [Agencies]

The Labor Department's report offers fresh evidence that the economy is slowing despite government relief efforts and gradual improvements in world credit markets. The department says new applications for unemployment benefits rose 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 478,000. That is above Wall Street's estimate of 470,000.

Worries about the economy sent the Dow Jones industrials tumbling 514 points Wednesday after a 231-point drop Tuesday. The blue chips are opening up 85 at the 8,604 level, a modest rebound that wasn't surprising after such a huge pullback.