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Wall Street stocks were higher in volatile trading early Thursday, absorbing another eye-popping unemployment figure due to the government-ordered shutdown of businesses to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

About five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 20,986.78, up 0.2 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 2,481.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 percent to 7,384.16.