US stocks snap two-days of losing streak, surge during early trade

   •  Early srong gains supported by upbeat corporate earnings. 
   •  Mixed US economic data fails to inspire. 
   •  Focus remains on today's US tax bill vote.

After two consecutive days of losing streak, major US equity indices rebounded sharply and surged during the opening hour of trade on Thursday.

A strong up-move in the shares of Cisco Systems and Wal-Mart Stores, both rallying over 5.0% in wake of better-than-expected earnings reports, provided an initial boost to the markets. 

A goodish rebound in European equity markets, on the back of some initial signs of stability in oil prices, remained supportive of the prevalent risk-on environment. 

On the economic data front, the US initial jobless claims rose more than expected during the week ended Nov. 10, while import prices also fell short of expectations and rose 0.2% in October. The negative effect, however, seems to have been negated by better-than-expected industrial production growth. 

Today's key focus would remain on a key vote to advance a Republican-led effort to rewrite and simplify the federal tax structure.

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained around 130-points to 23,401, while the broader S&P 500 Index added 12-points to 2,576. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index outperformed the broader indices and climbed over 50-points to 6,759.