U.S. stock futures rose sharply in early Thursday trading after the Federal Reserve signaled it would be aggressive on tapering and sees three interest rate hikes in 2022.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 210 points, or 0.6%, to 36,026.
Futures for the S&P 500 grew 27.75 points, or 0.6%, to 4,728.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ hiked 80.25 points, or 0.5%, to 16,366.50.
Shares of companies that have done well in previous rate-hiking cycles led pre-market gainers. Materials stocks FMC Corp. and Freeport-McMoRan both rose more than 3% ahead of the opening bell. Bank stocks also rose across the board, with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America all up about 0.6%.
In transportation news, Delta Air Lines reported that it now expects to see a profit of $200 million in the fourth quarter, after previously projecting a loss. Shares rose 2.2% on the news.
Health-care stocks UnitedHealth gained 3.1%, and Amgen rose 2.6%.
Adobe and Accenture are scheduled to report quarterly earnings before the opening bell. FedEx and Rivian will report after the bell.
The Fed will begin reducing the pace of its asset purchases in January and buy just $60 billion of bonds each month going forward, compared to $90 billion in the month of December. That decision follows recent inflation data showing a 6.8% surge in November, which is higher than expected and the fastest rate since 1982.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 sprang up 2.1% Thursday, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong eked up 0.2%.
Oil prices gained 40 cents to $71.27 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $25.90 to $1,790.40 U.S. an ounce.