US open: Solid gains at the bell following Wednesday's heavy losses

Wall Street started off with some solid gains on Thursday following the heavy losses sustained during the previous session, which saw the Dow drop more than 600 points and the Nasdaq enter into correction territory for the first time in two years.

As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.88% higher at 25,799.91, while the S&P 500 shot up 1.19% to 2,687.71 and the Nasdaq was trading 1.91% higher at 7,244.14.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones dropped 2.4% despite strong earnings from Boeing, while the Nasdaq closed down more than 4% and the S&P 500 fell by 3%.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "I think we really need to see some expectation-beating earnings reports about now to remind investors why we got to these levels in the first place. Unfortunately, third-quarter earnings growth is expected to soften a little after the first two seriously raised the bar."

In corporate news, Twitter surged 21% at the bell as the company's third-quarter profit and revenue surpassed analysts' expectations, while Hershey shares were down 5.60% after the chocolate company's third-quarter numbers.

Merck was 1.98% lower despite revealing it had swung to a profit in the third quarter from a $56m loss the year before.

Comcast racked up 4.63% in early trade as it posted a jump in third-quarter profit, while Southwest Airlines crashed 8.50% despite posting better-than-expected quarterly profits and revenues.

Dunkin' Brands rose 1.58% after lifting its profit outlook as it reported a rise in third-quarter profit.

Amazon and Google parent company Alphabet were set to report after the closing bell.

On the data front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose a little more than expected last week, according to figures released by the Labor Department.

US initial jobless claims rose by 5,000 to 215,000, coming in a touch above expectations for a smaller rise to 214,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average was unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level of 211,750.

The four-week average is considered more reliable as it smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly figures, giving a more accurate picture of the health of the labour market.

Meanwhile, durable goods orders in the States jumped unexpectedly last month, buoyed by those for defence aircraft.

Total orders for goods made to last at least three years increased by 0.8% over the month to reach $262.1bn, according to the Department of Commerce, whereas economists had projected a drop of 1.0%.

Within the above, orders for military aircraft and parts more than doubled, soaring by 119.1% to $11.7bn.

Elsewhere, the Department of Commerce revealed that America's shortfall in its trade in goods with the rest of the world widened in September.

The deficit increased by 0.8% month-on-month to reach $76.0bn. Economists had forecast a deficit of -$74.9bn.

Versus August, exports increased by 1.8% to reach $141.0bn while imports were up by 1.4% at $217.0bn.

Lastly, the Pending Home Sales Index increased 0.5% to 104.6 in September from the 104.1 seen in August, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Contract signings dropped 1% year-on-year, marking this the ninth consecutive month of annual decreases.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said: "Even though we are still seeing year-over-year declines, the latest monthly increase is a good, stabilizing trend."