Stocks were trading higher Thursday following a drop in jobless claims data. Chip maker Texas Instruments (TXN) rallied after raising its third quarter earnings outlook. Monsanto (MON) plunged after saying it expects earnings at the low end of its previous estimates and would cut more jobs.

In economic news, U.S. initial jobless claims fell 26,000 to 550,000 in the first week of September, good news for the labor market. The U.S. trade deficit in July widened to $32.0 billion, more than expected, following a revised $27.5 billion deficit in June.

On Thursday around 11:35 am ET, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.39 points to 9,568.61. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index edged up 1.88 points to 1,035.25. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 7.84 points to 2,068.23.

Gold futures fell $5.30 to $990.00. Crude oil futures rose to $72.44 following the EIA inventory data which showed a 5.9 million barrel fall in crude stocks. Treasury yields were up after the dive in jobless claims, and shrugged off the wider trade deficit, says Action Economics. The 10-year yield was at 3.44%

Airline stocks were rallying, with UAL Corp (UAUA) leading the way after being upgraded by JPMorgan. But analysts at JPMorgan downgraded shares of Jet Blue (JBLU).

Dow component Procter & Gamble (PG) stated that it expects earnings for its first fiscal quarter to range from $0.95 to $1.00 per share, which meets the $0.97 consensus estimate.

General Motors (GM) is expected to spin off its German Opel and UK Vauxhall units to a consortium led by Magna of Canada, backed by Russian banks and automakers.

In other news, Moody’s reiterated its negative outlook for U.S. banks, saying that asset-quality troubles will forcebanks to post substantial additional provisions in 2009 and 2010, making many banks unprofitable for extended periods and putting stress on capital levels. “We do not believe asset quality deterioration for the U.S. banking industry has reached its peak, and we therefore anticipate multiple quarters of losses for a large number of rated banks,” Moody’s said in a report.