Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart) posted 10% profit rise in Q1, as higher refining, marketing and chemical profit margins offset lower crude oil and natural gas prices. Net income rose to $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, up from $8.4 billion or $1.37 per share a year ago, beating estimates of a profit of $1.52 per share. However, revenue fell to $87.2 billion from $88.9 billion a year earlier, hurt by lower oil and natural gas prices.

The Dow rose 28.29, or 0.22%, to 13,118.96 in the opening minutes of trading, hitting a new trading high of 13,120.53. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 0.78, or 0.05%, to 1,496.20, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 4.88, or 0.19%, to 2,552.77.

Initial jobless claims fell by 20,000.
Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended April 21. The report showed that jobless claims fell by more than economists had been expecting. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell to 321,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 341,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 330,000 from the 339,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The decrease, which marked the bigger drop in jobless claims in nine weeks, was partly due to adjustments related to the Easter holiday, which does not fall in the same week every year. At the same time, the report also showed that the less volatile four-week moving average rose to 332,000 from the previous week''s revised average of 329,250. Continuing claims for the week ended April 14 also rose, surging up to 2.594 million from the preceding week''s revised level of 2.529 million.


9:30AM FTSE trades higher Thursday on U.S. close overnight and M&A.

The UK market was higher on Thursday. The FTSE 100 rose 27.8 points to 6,489.5 in mid-morning deals.

Advancers

With markets close to new highs, Amvescap, the fund manager highly exposed to US markets, gained 1.8%, while Man Group, the world largest listed hedge fund rose 1.4% and Investec also made gains, up 1.7%.

Contract caterer Compass Group, up 2.5%, benefited from a 24% rise in interim profits at its French peer Sodexho Alliance.

Arm Holdings surged with a 5.5% rise after it unveiled plans to return over 100 million pounds to investors in 2007.

Miners were also doing well, with Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto attracting attention. Anglo American advanced 0.3%, Antofagasta was up 1.9% and Rio Tinto rose 0.1%.

Drugs group Shire was up again thanks to a JP Morgan price target hike following strong first quarter figures released Wednesday.

Decliners

Confirmation that ABN Amro had agreed to consider the offer by the consortium which is behind a 72 billion euros break-up bid led by Royal Bank of Scotland made the UK company shares fall 0.5%. Royal Bank of Scotland also dropped as HSBC kept the shares at neutral and cut its price target.

There was bad news from Sports Direct International, down 8.3%, as the sports retailer warned on slower sales.

With oil prices up above $65 a barrel in New York, cruises company Carnival Corporation was among the decliners, down 0.9%.


9:15AM Asian markets finish higher Thursday with Japan leading gainers.

Asian markets ended higher on Thursday. The 225-issue Nikkei Average closed 1.1% higher at 17,429.17. Sony rose 0.9% after reports that the electronics company will raise up to 300 billion yen by taking Sony Financial Holdings public. Electronics maker Kyocera advanced 2.1% ahead of its earnings release, while silicon-wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical surged 4.3%, ahead of its earnings Friday. Honda Motor gained 1.8% after the auto maker reported upbeat quarterly earnings growth.