NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. markets shot higher Thursday morning after Germany approved an expanded aid program for struggling European countries.
Although the voting is not over with approval from Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, the Netherlands and Slovakia needed to pass the measure, Germany was seen as a critical test, given the country's role in shaping the package and the domestic resistance to it.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis Thursday said the U.S. gross domestic product rose 1.3 percent in the second quarter. The report comprises the last of a trio of estimates released by the Commerce Department. The current estimate is slightly above expectations, and 0.3 percentage points higher than the second estimate released a month earlier.
In midmorning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average added 242.83 points, 2.21 percent, to 11,253.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 21.96 points, 1.91 percent, to 1,173.02. The Nasdaq composite index added 34.86 points, 1.4 percent, to 2,526.44.
The benchmark 10-year treasury fell 11/32 to yield 2.016 percent.
The euro rose to $1.3632 from Wednesday's $1.3544. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 76.87 yen from Wednesday's 76.61 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 0.99 percent, 85.58 points, to 8,701.23.
