U.S. markets up in early trading

The three main U.S. stock indexes rose in early trading on Thursday, and Treasuries fell, after the weekly U.S. jobless figures proved better than expected.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.4 percent at 9:34 a.m. in New York, following a 4.4 percent drop on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.

The New York Times reports that the early surge could set the stage for "another unpredictable trading session in a week of wide market swings," and adds that the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite were each also up around 1 percent.

Earlier on Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 for the first time since April, CNN reports.

395,000 people filed initial unemployment claims during the week that ended August 6, down 7,000 from the previous week.

"Economists often say initial claims need to fall below [400,000] before job growth is strong enough to put a dent in the unemployment rate," CNN reports.

"The jobless claims report is another indication that the economy is growing at a moderate pace," Dan Veru, chief investment officer at Palisade Capital Management LLC, told Bloomberg. "Still, the market is very fragile. So much of what’s moving the market is centered in Europe… Is this is a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis? I don’t think so."

CNN warns that despite the early spark, also fueled by Cisco Systems' better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter, "trading could be choppy through the rest of the day" over concern about Europe's debt crisis.

"Once again, investors are worried that France's credit rating will get downgraded, even though the rating agencies are saying they don't foresee having to do that," Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, told the network.