Dow Jones jumps 400 points after robust data

US stock indices rose in early trading on Thursday, after the release of strong economic data, as the unemployment claims fell below 300,000 for the first time since the pandemic.

The US Department of Labor revealed that the number of initial unemployment claims was at 293K last week from 329K, lower than forecasts of 315K.

The producer price index rose 0.5% in September, missing forecasts of 0.6%, while the core reading of the same index rose 0.2%, missing forecasts of 0.5%.

The Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed that the central bank's members discussed a plan to reduce asset purchases by $15 billion per month.

The Fed members expected the central bank to start cutting the pandemic bond-buying program starting Mid-November.

As for stocks, Dow Jones surged 1.2% or 410 points to 34,787 as of 14:18 GMT, and S&P 500 rose 1.3% or 58 points to 4,422, while Nasdaq rose 1.4% or 211 points to 14,785.