Markets soar as jobless claims drop

The markets opened sharply higher with Dow leaping 159 points to 18,220 as first time applications for unemployment benefits fell. Nasdaq surged 40 points to 5,022.

On the upside

VBL Therapeutics (Nasdaq: VBLT) will present positive interim data from a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its platinum-resistant Mullerian cancer treatment VB-111.

Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) fell to a loss for the first quarter but the results were better than expected prompting upgrades.

Bargain hunters lifted shares of Oncothyreon (Nasdaq: ONTY).

On the downside

First quarter earnings rose for Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) but the results fell short of expectations.

Profit taking weighed down shares of Giga-tronics (Nasdaq: GIGA).

Jones Energy (NYSE: JONE) priced its secondary offering of 5 million common shares at the discounted price of $10 per share.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 climbed 15 points to 2113. Bitcoin added $1 to $237.