US markets rise ahead of Fed news

U.S. stock indexes rose tentatively Thursday morning after the Labor Department said first-time jobless benefit claims rose by 15,000 in the week. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 382,000, the department said. The Department of Labor Statistics said U.S. producer prices rose 1.7 percent in August, the largest monthly gain since June 2009. Investors were also keyed in on a meeting of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee, which will announce its monetary policy decision mid-afternoon Thursday. In midmorning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 15.07 points, or 0.11 percent, to 13,348.42. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 4.12 points, or 0.13 percent, to 3,118.43. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 0.62 points, or 0.04 percent, to 1,437.18. The benchmark 10-year treasury rose 10/32 to yield 1.727 percent. The euro fell to $1.2891 from Wednesday's $1.2899. The U.S. dollar fell to 77.47 yen from 77.85 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 255 index added 0.39 percent, 35.19 points, to 8,995.15.