Wall Street jumps sharply in early trading NEW YORK - Stock advanced sharply in early trading on Thursday as investors sought bargains after a string of losing sessions. Concerns over Europe's sovereign debt crisis helped to spark declines in the S&P 500 for five of the past six sessions. "We've seen buyers come in at the 1,350 level (on the S&P) for the past few sessions, so there's no doubt sellers are tired now," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York. We were very oversold, and selling is done at least in the short term. The question is whether we'll see a catalyst for real buying from here. New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits edged down last week, the government said, and could ease concerns the labor market was deteriorating after April's weak employment growth. Moments after the opening bell, the S&P 500 was up 9.85 points and was above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 63.80 points, and the Nasdaq added 9.20 points. The Dow has fallen for six straight days, while the S&P rebounded from a two-month low on Wednesday, suggesting investors may use the index's two-day drop of more than 1 percent as a buying opportunity. With 441 of the S&P 500 companies reporting results through Wednesday morning, 66.7 percent exceeded estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data, versus more than 80 percent at the start of earnings season. Shares of Avon Products Inc climbed 3.1 percent to $22.28 premarket after Coty US Inc raised its buyout bid by $1.50 per share to $24.75. Despite market gains, caution prevailed on questions over how the Greek political deadlock would affect the debt crisis. On Wednesday, equities came back from sharp declines after officials agreed to make a 4.2 billion euro bailout payment to Greece. In another troubling sign from abroad, China's annual growth in imports in April was just 0.3 percent, far below forecasts of an 11 percent increase. Exports managed to grow just 4.9 percent versus expectations of 8.5 percent, data showed. Investors stayed focused on the turmoil in Europe on Wednesday, sparking another down day, but a deal for another Greek bailout payment helped cut losses late in the session.