NEW YORK, June 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors were waiting for the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 162.16 points, or 0.67 percent, to 24,336.98. The S&P 500 increased 15.29 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,728.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 51.40 points, or 0.69 percent, to 7,554.07.

The moves followed a lower previous session as tech shares dropped sharply, weighing on the market.

The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to publish the minutes from its latest central banking meeting Thursday afternoon. Investors will pore through the minutes looking for clues about future monetary policy moves.

At its June meeting, the Fed raised short-term interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

Investors also paid close attention to several key data.

In the week ending June 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 231,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 228,000, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. private sector employment increased by 177,000 jobs from May to June according to data provider ADP and Moody's Analytics' newly released report. The reading was missing market expectations.