US stock market opens higher with debt limit hopes

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - American stocks opened higher Thursday as hopes of raising the debt limit calmed investors' worries about a government default.

The Dow Jones jumped 502 points, or 1.47%, to 34,919 at 10.12 p.m. EDT, while the S&P 500 was up 61, or 1.41%, to 4,425.

The Nasdaq soared 224, or 1.54%, to 14,726 as pharmaceutical firm MBitcoinoderna and social media firm Twitter rose more than 3% apiece.

Bearish sentiment weakened as the possibility of the US running into default on Oct. 18 now appears less likely.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell late Wednesday offered Democrats a short-term debt limit extension to cover current spending levels into December.

As uncertainty calmed, so did the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, which fell 7.1% to 19.50. The dollar index declined 0.12% to 94.15.

But the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was up 1.8% to 1.552%.

As crude prices reversed course from their three-year highs, they were down for the second consecutive day.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $80.45 per barrel with a 0.8% decline and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $76.64 -- a 1% fall.

Precious metals were mixed with gold falling 0.13% to $1,760 per ounce but silver added 0.4% to $22.71.

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was just below the psychological mark of $55,000, trading at $54,700.

The total value of the digital coin market stood at $2.31 trillion with Bitcoin dominating with a 44.4% share, according to data by digital asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.