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New York - Wall Street stocks jumped in early trade on Thursday, rising with European markets that surged on expectations for more eurozone monetary stimulus.
About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 825.12, up 240.60 points (1.37%).
The broad-based S&P 500 surged 26.61 (1.31%) to 2 052.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 60.83 (1.31%) at 4 711.30.
Equity markets in Britain, France and Germany were all at least 1.9% higher on expectations that the European Central Bank could launch quantitative easing to deflation in the 19-nation eurozone.
Analysts also cited greater calm as oil prices stabilised.
Investors are gearing up for Friday's US jobs report for December, which analysts expect will show the economy added 245 000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.7%.
Thursday's gains were broad-based. Large companies notching above-average advances included Apple (+2.3%) and Dow members JPMorgan Chase (+2.1%) and Microsoft (+2.5%). Alibaba gained 1.8%.
Discount retailer Family Dollar fell 0.6% as first-quarter net income dropped 47% to $41.4m. The company cited a heavily competitive environment that cut into profit margins.
Ford Motor gained 2.8% as it raised its quarterly dividend by 20%.
Big-box retailer Costco gained 1.1% after reporting that same-store US sales jumped five percent in December.
Constellation Brands, a leading beer and wine producer/distributor, jumped 4.4% after reporting that third-quarter net income climbed 5.3% to $222.2m.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.00% from 1.97% Wednesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.57% from 2.53%. Bond yields and prices move inversely.
