Stocks open higher on upbeat jobs reports

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks rose modestly at the open Thursday on mostly upbeat jobs reports, as Wall Street continues to recover from the two-day suspension of trading due to Superstorm Sandy.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq rose 0.5% in the early going, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4%.

The gains came as investors parsed through a bevy of corporate and economic news, including planned job cuts, private sector job gains and initial unemployment claims. Those numbers are all a prelude to the government's monthly jobs report on Friday.

While outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported the number of planned job cuts surged to a five-month high in October, two other reports were positive. Payroll processor ADP said U.S. private-sector employers added 158,000 jobs in October, which was above expectations, and weekly initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 363.000 last week, coming in lower than forecasts.

Related: 100 Best Jobs in America

The other reports on tap for Thursday span a wide variety of economic sectors: manufacturing, consumer confidence, construction spending and auto sales.

The corporate world is also busy Thursday. Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500)reported better-than-expected earnings in the morning, while AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), and LinkedIn (LNKD) are among the firms due to report after the closing bell.

U.S. stocks ended a weak month on a mixed note Wednesday, the first day of trading after the Sandy-related closure.

Fear & Greed Index

Companies: Netflix (NFLX) shares retreated after a massive 14% runup Wednesday. The gains came after famed corporate raider Carl Icahn disclosed he bought a 10% stake in Netflix, and strongly hinted he'd like a larger company to buy the streaming video and DVD service.

Japan-based Panasonic (PC) released an earnings report Thursday that was full of bad news. The electronics company posted a loss, dramatically lowered its forecast for the year, and announced it will suspend its dividend. Business conditions are expected to become "much more severe."

Also in Japan, Sony (SNE) reported a narrower loss for its fiscal second quarter and reaffirmed its full-year forecast for a swing to profit. Its U.S.-traded stock gained ground.

Shares of Ford (F, Fortune 500) rose slightly after the company announced that Alan Mulally would remain president and CEO through at least 2014, and named Mark Fields as chief operating officer.

Shares of Visa (V, Fortune 500) gained after its Wednesday earnings report topped analysts' estimates. Sirius (SIRI) also gained after the satellite radio company reported its new subscriber sign-ups were strong last quarter.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) slipped after it reported quarterly revenue that fell far below analysts' estimates.

Related: Monthly jobs report: What to expect

World Markets: European stocks all ticked higher in afternoon trade Thursday. Britain's FTSE 100 was up about 0.8%, while the DAX in Germany and France's CAC 40 each added 0.7%.

Asian markets closed higher. The Shanghai Composite had the strongest gains, up 1.7%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.8%, and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2%.

China's government reported earlier in the day that its official purchasing manager's index jumped to 50.2 in October, from 49.8 the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates that factory conditions are improving in the manufacturing sector.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell versus the British pound and the euro, and it gained against the Japanese yen.

Oil for December delivery slipped 4 cents to $86.20 a barrel.

Gold futures for December delivery rose $4.10 to $1,723.20 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged lower, pushing the yield up to 1.71% from 1.69% late Wednesday.

First Published: November 1, 2012: 9:43 AM ET

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