Wall Street stocks opened higher Thursday following Senate passage of a massive stimulus bill as the government reported an unprecedented surge in US jobless claims.

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About five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 21,567.24, up 1.7 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 1.7 percent to 2,517.56, along with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which stood at 7,506.35.