A blowout quarterly earnings report from the computer chip giant Nvidia, a strong showing from Walmart and a better than expected September jobs report sent stocks surging early Thursday, as investors' saw fresh signs that the U.S. economy could prove resilient in the face of gathering headwinds.

The S&P 500, a broad measure of stocks, gained 1.5% as trading opened. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 2%, but later backed down slightly from its high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 600 points, around 0.8%.

Stocks had been showing signs of flagging in recent weeks, amid rising questions about how much room the artificial intelligence boom had to run after powering markets through a year of steady gains.

Nvidia has been at the heart of that boom. Its earnings report Wednesday exce

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