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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened sharply higher on Thursday, amid relief at a temporary deal to put off a U.S. government default and the partial retreat of sky-high energy prices that have posed an increasing threat to the world economy.
By 9:43 AM ET (1343 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 404 points, or 1.2%, at 34,821 points. The S&P 500 was up by 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was up by 1.2%.
Stocks were building on gains already made on Wednesday on the back of developments in Washington, DC and Moscow. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed to put off a final reckoning on the debt ceiling until early December, while Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the first indication that it’s willing to increase gas supplies to Europe to bring prices down.
There was also a fresh sign of the labor market making steady progress as the Delta-variant wave of Covid-19 recedes. Initial jobless claims last week fell to 326,000, breaking a sequence of three straight weekly gains.
