CNN – U.S. stocks rose sharply at the market’s open Thursday, as investors welcomed better-than-expected reports on the U.S. trade deficit and weekly jobless claims.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 81 points, or 0.8%, the S&P 500 ticked up 11 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 20 points, or 0.9%.

BWF Financial analyst Hamed Khorsand said the jobless claims number was a bigger driver than the trade figures because of the intense focus on the job market.

“Even though employment is really a lagging indicator of the economy, it’s gotten to a point where it’s now setting the sentiment,” he said.

Stocks closed higher Wednesday as worries about European banks eased, and investors welcomed President Obama’s $350 billion jobs recovery plan.

All three major indexes started the month with a bang following a series of stronger-than-expected economic reports. This week, trading has been a bit shaky, with little on the docket to push stocks forward. All three major indexes have still managed to gain in four out of the five previous sessions.

But analysts caution that it’s too soon to break out the champagne.

“Overall, we’re still seeing stagnation,” said Chip Brian, president of financial analytics firm SmarTrend. “Obama can pull a feather out of his hat and say ‘we can do this and this,’ but until we start realizing some of these economic benefits for growth, we’ve still got a large problem.”

Economy: The Labor Department’s weekly report on initial jobless claims showed that 451,000 first-time claims for unemployment benefits were filed in the week ended Sept. 4. This was significantly less that consensus forecast from Briefing.com of 470,000.

The latest figure was down 27,000 from an upwardly revised 478,000 in the previous week.

Also, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit slipped to $42.8 billion in July, sharply lower than the Briefing.com consensus forecast of a $47.3 billion deficit. It also marks a decline from the slightly revised deficit of $49.8 billion for the prior month.

World markets: European shares rose. Both the CAC 40 in France and Britain’s FTSE added 1.4%, and the DAX in Germany gained 1%.

Asian markets ended mixed. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index rose 0.8%, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong edged up 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite tumbled 1.4%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the British pound, but slipped versus the euro and the Japanese yen.

Oil futures for October delivery gained $1 to $75.67 a barrel.

Gold for December delivery fell $2.50 to $1,255 an ounce.

Bonds: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.7%, from 2.65% late Wednesday.

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