Wall Street rallies on hopes for slowing economic pain

Stocks climbed in morning trading on Wall Street Thursday as reports suggested that even though the economy is still getting walloped, at least conditions aren't worsening as quickly as they had been.

The S&P 500 was up 1.2 per cent, following up on similar gains in Europe. Oil prices also rose, but other areas of the market were more hesitant, including bonds and Asian stocks.

The day's headliner economic report showed another 3.2 million U.S. workers applied for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total over the last seven weeks to 33.5 million. It's a shocking number, but it's also the fifth straight week that it has declined since hitting a peak in late March.

Several companies on late Wednesday also cited signs that the worst may be behind them, at least in some parts of their businesses, though more weakness is still definitely on the horizon.

That was enough to bolster hopes that have coursed through the stock market recently as investors look ahead to a future that's .