U.S. stocks open higher with S&P 500 attempting longest winning streak since 2004

U.S. stocks opened modestly higher Thursday, with the S&P 500 attempting its longest stretch of daily gains since 2004 as investors weighed fresh data on jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.24%
was up 0.1% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.08%
increased 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.07%
rose 0.2%, according to FactSet data, at last check. Initial jobless claims dipped 3,000 to 217,000 in the week ending Nov. 4, according to a report Thursday from the Department of Labor. The economic calendar on Thursday also includes remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was heading for a potential ninth straight day of gains in what would be its longest winning streak since November 2004, according to Dow Jones Market Data.