US stocks surge on oil rally

New York - US stocks powered higher in opening trade on Thursday, joining a surge in European markets amid rising oil prices and improved sentiment following Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 536.87, up 180.00 points (1.04%).

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 22.31 (1.11%) to 2 035.20, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 55.20 (1.19%) to 4 699.51.

Equity markets took heart from a rise in oil prices after Saudi Arabia's petroleum minister described the recent retreat in prices as temporary. Stock markets in Britain, France and Germany were all up at least 1.5%.

Analysts said spirits were also lifted by the outcome on Wednesday of the Fed's two-day monetary policy meeting, which stoked talk of a "Santa Claus rally."

The US central bank left in place market expectations that it might raise interest rates only in the middle of 2015 and not sooner and gave a fairly upbeat assessment of the economy.

Wall Street stocks rallied sharply after the Fed announcement, with the S&P 500 soaring 2.04%, its best one-day gain of the year.