U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

Stock markets opened higher on Thursday after retailers announced increased sales in October and a government report on productivity data eased concerns about rising inflation and interest rates.

In his testimony to the Joint Economic Committee in Congress Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the economy has shown 'solid expansion' lately, not taking into account the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Greenspan also repeated his warnings about high budget deficits and argued for an expansion of the country's ability to import natural gas.

Retail stocks are climbing in the early going, lifted by strong October sales results. Gymboree (GYMB: chart) is up 9.2% on its sales report, while Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF: chart) is climbing by 8%. Technology is also strong. The semiconductor sector is a leader in the group, climbing by 2.2%.

Tech stocks remain strong, though off intraday highs. The semiconductor sector is currently up 1.5%. The gaming sector is holding near its intraday high with an advance of 1.7%, supported largely by Harrah's (HET: chart), climbing by 5.5% on earnings news.

Gold, bank and broker/dealer stocks are posting modest losses.

Symbol Technologies (SBL: chart) is one of the biggest gainers in the early going, rising 19% on earnings and guidance.

First Marblehead (FMD: chart) is one of the worst performers, falling by 26%, after it announced that the Bank of America has opted out of the automatic annual renewal of its direct-to-consumer program.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT: chart) reported an increase of 4.3% in same-stores sales for October. The company expects same-store sales growth of 3%-5% for November. Wal-Mart''s stock gained 0.9%.

Cable giant Comcast Corp. (CMCS: chart) posted third-quarter net income that came slightly below analyst expectations. The company’s stock added 2.5% yesterday, but is expected to be under pressure today.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended October 29, showing a decrease compared to the previous week.

The report showed that jobless claims fell to 323,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 331,000. Economists had expected 330,000 jobless claims compared to the 328,000 originally reported in the previous week.

The Labor Dept. said that 18,000 of the new jobless claims were related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita while an additional 1,400 were tied to Hurricane Wilma. With the increase, the hurricanes have now led to a total of 521,400 layoffs.

The data sheds some light on the October employment report that is due to be released on Friday. Economists expect the report to show that the U.S. economy added 110,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 5.1 percent.

The Federal Reserve is likely to be pleased with the Department of Labor''s preliminary report on third quarter productivity, as it showed much better than expected productivity growth as well as an unexpected decline in unit labor costs.

The report showed that productivity in the non-farm business sector rose by 4.1 percent in the third quarter compared to the upwardly revised 2.1 percent growth seen in the second quarter. Economists had expected much more modest growth of 2.7 percent.

The Labor Dept. said that the third quarter productivity growth came as output rose by 4.2 percent while hours edged up only 0.1 percent. In the second quarter, output increased by 4.4 percent while hours rose by 2.2 percent.

The report also showed that third quarter unit labor costs unexpectedly fell 0.5 percent following downwardly revised growth of 1.8 percent in the second quarter. The decrease surprised economists, who had expected labor costs to increase by 1.6 percent.