U.S. Stocks Open Higher on Strong Earnings by Tesla and United Airlines

© Reuters.

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as corporate earnings continued to roll in, with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) shares providing a lift to markets.

At 9:43 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 237, or 0.7%, while theS&P 500 was up 1% and the NASDAQ Composite rose 1.7%.

Tesla shares rose 10% after reporting better than expected results Wednesday evening. And United Airlines rose nearly 11% after forecasting a return to profitability this year.

Shares of AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) also rose 3% on Thursday after beating expectations.

Investors are awaiting two public appearances by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell today, first at a meeting of the Volcker Alliance and later at the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where he is scheduled to take part in a panel about the global economy.

It's just a few weeks until the central bank meets again and is largely expected to raise interest rates and set a policy for reducing its $9 trillion balance sheet.