Dow spikes 534 points as earnings season opens with a series of strong performances

• US stocks soared nearly 2% on Thursday as third-quarter earnings season started off strong.
• Earnings reports from banks including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup were ahead of expectations.
• Weekly jobless claims fell to a pandemic-era low, also helping boost investor sentiment.
• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

US stocks jumped nearly 2% on Thursday as investors reacted positively to strong third-quarter earnings beats from banks including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup.

The bank stocks soared as much a 4% as a continued drop in provisions for credit losses and strength in the investment banking and wealth management sectors drove growth.

Also boosting investor sentiments on Thursday was a strong weekly jobless claim reading of 293,000, representing a pandemic-era low and beating economist estimates. Continuing claims fell to 2.59 million, besting forecasts as well.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped over 500 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 led markets higher.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 4,438.25, up 1.71%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,912.56, up 1.56% (534.75 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 14,823.43, up 1.73%

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest put its name behind a bitcoin futures ETF that was filed with the SEC on Wednesday, signalling that the futures-based crypto ETF may be eventually approved by the regulatory agency.

Coding platform GitHub soared more than 20% in its IPO debut on Thursday, sporting a valuation of more than $11 billion. The company, which has seen a surge in growth amid the work-from-home trend, priced its IPO at $77 per share.

Chinese brokerage firms fell sharply in Thursday trades as it became apparent that a new data privacy law in China will likely hamper the companies' ability to service mainland China investors unless they quickly adapt to the new rules.

Citigroup saw its profits surge 48% in the third-quarter following the release of loss reserves and a strong period for equity and fixed income trading.

Bank of America beat its earning estimates for the third-quarter, as record-high advisory fees and a $1.1 billion reserve release helped boost profits.

Morgan Stanley posted a strong third-quarter earnings report as growth in its investment banking and wealth management divisions bested estimates.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as 1.16%, to $81.37 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, jumped 1.14%, to $84.13 per barrel.

Gold jumped as much as 0.23%, to $1,798.80 per ounce.