NEW YORK: US stocks opened higher on Thursday as the market welcomed positive economic and company news a day after the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave near-zero interest rates unchanged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 81.24 points (0.83 percent) to 9,883.38 in early trade. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite leapt 20.88 points (1.02 percent) to 2,076.40 while the broad Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 6.85 points (0.65 percent) to 1,053.35. “Better-than-expected earnings, and reassuring guidance, from bellwether Cisco, along with some better-than-expected economic headlines, has set a positive tone,” said Patrick O’Hare at Briefing.com. Joseph Hargett, analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, said the market was still digesting the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) policy statement. Traders are coming to “the sobering conclusion as to why the Fed decided to leave interest rates at record lows for an extended period,” he said. “While the Fed believes that the economy is improving, the rates are staying low out of concern for the strength of the recovery.” A Wall Street rally fizzled Wednesday in reaction to the FOMC decision to maintain its present course of stimulating the economy with low rates and extra liquidity. The central bank has held its key target rate between zero and 0.25 percent since December 2008 in a bid to boost growth in the world’s largest economy, which had entered recession a year earlier. The Dow closed up 0.31 percent, the Nasdaq edged down 0.09 percent and the S&P 500 index added 0.10 percent.

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