NEW YORK, April 16 — Wall Street stocks mostly rose early today even as new economic data showed another spike in US unemployment and a big drop in homebuilding.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 23,422.16, down 0.4 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.4 per cent to 2,794.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 per cent to 8,484.58.

Another 5.2 million US workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, the government reported today, taking the three-week total to 22 million jobs in the wake of sweeping lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus.

US housing starts fell 22.3 per cent in March, while permits for new construction fell 6.8 per cent, according to housing data.

"The market is going to have to get accustomed to seeing some lousy economic data in coming weeks,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

"To be fair, it knows that already, which is why the fallout today (and even yesterday) isn’t as pronounced as one might think.”

Stocks have mostly risen the last three weeks as the coronavirus case trend has levelled in New York and some other hotspots and investors anticipate a boost from unprecedented government stimulus measures.

Still, many analysts view the gains as unjustified given the severity of the economic downturn. — AFP