By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks opened with strong gains Thursday as economic reports from China, the U.K. and the U.S. offered a more optimistic light on the global economy.
“Economic numbers were better than expected, so from an economic perspective, we’re getting there slowly,” said Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners in Chicago, of U.S. economic reports that had demand for durable goods up 9.9% in September and jobless claims falling last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.49% rose 54 points, or 0.4%, to 13,131.
The S&P 500 index SPX +0.62% added 8.92 points, or 0.6%, to 1,417.67.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP +0.58% advanced 16.64 points, or 0.6%, to 2,998.34.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the nation’s factory output should increase at a more rapid pace in the final quarter.
Separately, a preliminary report from the U.K. showed that nation’s economy in the third quarter grew 1% from the prior period, the largest such rise in five years.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
