Wall Street higher on bailout plan approval hopes

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street opened higher Thursday, as expectations that the U.S. Congress will approve the Bush administration's 700 billion U.S. dollar bailout plan overshadowed the dim outlook from General Electric (GE) and downbeat economic data.

Investors grew cautiously optimistic that the U.S. government and lawmakers would reach an agreement to save the ailing financial system, after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday to quickly pass the plan.

Details of the plan are still being worked out. Governmental officials and lawmakers have agreed on limits on pay packages for executives whose companies benefit and the plan is reportedly almost a done deal.

GE announced that it was lowering its outlook for third-quarter and full-year earnings. The company also suspended its stock buyback because of "unprecedented weakness and volatility" in financial markets. GE dropped nearly four percent in early trading.

In addition, the U.S. Labor Department says the number of jobless claims rose by 32,000 to 493,000 last week, the highest level in seven years and much greater than analysts' expectations of 445,000.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department says orders for durable goods fell by 4.5 percent last month, far worse than the 1.6 percent decline that economists expected.

The Dow Jones rose 89.45 to 10,914.62. Broader indexes also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.13 to 1,193.00 and the Nasdaq climbed 14.08 to 2,169.76.