Stocks were moderately higher in afternoon trading Thursday, putting the market on pace to break a three-day losing streak. Investors were encouraged by the latest jobs data that showed fewer Americans filing for unemployment benefits, another sign that the economic recovery is underway.

The S&P 500 index was up 1.3% as of 3:33 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 293 points, or 0.9%, to 34,187 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq was up 1.9%.

Technology and communications stocks led the broad gains. Apple rose 2.1% and Google's parent, Alphabet, rose 1.6%. Every sector in the S&P...