DOW UP 210

In early trade on Thursday, the Dow was up 210 points, or 1.3%, the S&P 500 was up 21 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq was up 48 points, or 1.1%.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was leading gains, lead by a 4% advance in shares of economic bellwether Caterpillar, which reported better than expected results on Thursday morning.

On the economic data front, the initial report on weekly jobless claims showed claims rose slightly from last week, but still remained near multi-year lows with the 4-week moving average of claims at its lowest level since May, 2000.

In the US, we are also expecting Markit's flash manufacturing PMI report at 9:45 am ET.

In stock news, shares of Chiquita Banana were up more than 6% after the company received an increased takeover offer from Cutrale-Safra, while Yelp shares were down as much as 13% after the company last night reported earnings that missed expectations.