Dow up 1% in early trading after Spanish bank stress tests

NEW YORK -- Stocks rallied 1% in early trading, as investors saw more reasons to be optimistic about Europe’s debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 143 points, or 1.1%, to 13,581 shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 15 points, or 1.1%, to 1,456. The Nasdaq was up 28 points, or 0.9%, to 3,144.

Stress tests of Spain’s troubled banks reportedly turned out better than expected. Investors also digested a report showing U.S. manufacturing increased in September, following three months of decline.

Stocks had ended the third quarter, which ended Friday, up more than 4%. Central banks around the globe have propped up equity markets by announcing plans to buy bonds to keep interest rates low and steer investors into riskier assets such as equities.

The next major piece of U.S. economic data comes Friday, when the U.S. Department of Labor releases September’s unemployment report.

ALSO:

Corn inventory drops to eight-year low; futures prices jump

Pending sales of existing homes fall below mark considered healthy

Higher prices push up consumer spending at the expense of savings