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North American stocks rose at the start of trading on Thursday, with investors cheering an upbeat reading on U.S. jobless claims and successful initial public offerings.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 48 points or 0.4 per cent, to 12,608. The broader S&P 500 rose 3 points or 0.2 per cent, to 1344. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 25 points or 0.2 per cent, to 13,632.

The economic backdrop was strong. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims for the period ended last week fell more than expected, to 409,000.

Meanwhile, Glencore International PLC began informal trading in London, rising despite setbacks in key commodity prices. As well, LinkedIn Corp.'s IPO was priced with shares at $45 (U.S.) each, valuing the company at $4.25-billion and marking the biggest Internet-related IPO since Google Inc. debut.

Commodity producers and related stocks led the gains elsewhere. Caterpillar Inc. rose 1.4 per cent, Alcoa Inc. rose 1.3 per cent and Chevron Corp. rose 1.2 per cent. Among Canadian stocks, the gains were more slight, with Suncor Energy Inc. up 0.1 per cent, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. up 1 per cent and Barrick Gold Corp up 0.2 per cent.

Research In Motion Ltd. fell 1.5 per cent after an impressive rebound on Wednesday. Financials rose modestly, with Royal Bank of Canada up 0.1 per cent and Bank of Montreal up 0.2 per cent.

Intel Corp. fell 2.4 per cent after an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group downgraded the stock to a "sell" recommendation, citing rising spending, slower processor shipments and increasing competition.

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