U.S. stock futures jumped on Thursday, continuing Wednesday's midday comeback as Congress appeared to near a deal that would raise the debt limit in the short term and avoid a disastrous government default.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials popped 296 points, or 0.9%, to 34,586.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 40.75 points, or 0.9%, to 4,394.75.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index leaped 178.25 points, or 1.2%, to 14,937.25.
A broad range of stocks were higher in pre-market trading. Tech shares Twitter, Nvidia and AMD were more than 1% higher. GM and Southwest Airlines also rose. Costco shares added 1% after reporting better-than-expected September sales. Facebook gained after JPMorgan said it was time to buy the recent dip on the stock.
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned that they U.S. should "fully expect" a recession if Congress couldn't reach an agreement on the debt ceiling, leading to an unprecedented government default.
Then during the trading day Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a short-term suspension proposal to Senate Democrats. They were likely to accept the deal that would raise the debt ceiling by a specific amount and allow the government to keep operating until some point in December.
First-time filings for unemployment claims data from last week will be release at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones estimate jobless claims totaled 345,000 for the week ended Oct. 2, down from the previous week's 362,000.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng jumped 3.1%.
Oil prices docked $1.25 to $76.18 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices peeped up 20 cents to $1,762 U.S. a pound.