Wall Street opens higher after JPMorgan earnings

NEW YORK - Wall Street is modestly higher in early trading after JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the latest bank to report better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

The market is interpreting JPMorgan Chase's results as another sign that the banking industry is stabilizing. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. also had upbeat earnings news in the past week.

Stocks are also getting a boost from a drop in weekly unemployment claims that was larger than forecast.

In the early going, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 37 at 8,067. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 5 at 857, and the Nasdaq composite is up 18 at 1,645.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)