Wall Street opened higher Thursday morning on slower worker productivity.

The Labor Department said Thursday that productivity increased at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the first quarter, less than an increase of 2.1 percent seen in the fourth quarter last year.

Wages also slowed as unit labor costs rose at a rate of 0.6 percent. In the fourth quarter, the increase was 6.2 percent, fueled in part by year-end bonuses.

In the early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.27 to 13,214.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.47, to 1,498.39, reaching close to the benchmark of 1,500. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2.72 to 2,560.56.

Shares of General Motors Corp. declined on a report that the auto maker's first-quarter earnings were 62 million dollars, or 11 cents a share, down from a year-ago profit of 602 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua