US open: Equities pushed higher by banking stocks

US stocks rose on Thursday as JP Morgan Chase & Co. led banking stocks higher after better-than-expected results.

At 1544 BST the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.80%, the S&P 500 increased 0.64% and the Nasdaq edged up 0.71%.

Oil prices also rose, recovering from losses the previous day, with Brent crude up 1.3% to $46.88 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up 1.1% to $45.25 per barrel at 1546 BST.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England decided to keep interest rates unchanged to the surprise of economists who had expected a 25 basis point cut in the wake of Brexit. The central bank voted 8-1 to hold rates at 0.5%, saying it would wait for economic data for the period following the EU referendum before taking action. The BoE said it was likely to loosen monetary policy in August.

“Theresa May and the announcement of a new government has bought the BoE time on their policy decision, and the announcement of a new chancellor in Phillip Hammond has not come quickly enough for a stable government to be ready for a policy move,” said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX.

“The new PM and government buy the BoE time and calm the nerves of unsettled investors, so the bank doesn’t have to.”

In the US, initial jobless claims for the week to 9 July were unchanged from the previous week at 254,000, less than the 265,000 expected by analysts.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard was scheduled to speak at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum on Thursday along with Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan.

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart speaks at the Global Interdependence Center’s Rocky Mountain Economic Summit at 1615 BST. Kansas City Fed President Esther George speaks in Oklahoma at 1815 BST.

On the company front, JP Morgan shares leapt as it kicked off the earnings season for America’s biggest banks with quarterly earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

Other large banks also rose off the back of the results, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Yum Brands Inc. rallied as the parent company of Taco Bell raised its forecast for core operating profit growth.

Delta Air Lines Inc. edged higher after the airline posted second quarter profit that exceeded estimates.