NEW YORK, Oct 17 — Wall Street stocks jumped early today after British officials dropped more controversial tax cut measures, reassuring markets ahead of a heavy week of earnings.

In the latest U-turn by Britain’s Conservative Party, newly-installed finance chief Jeremy Hunt scrapped plans to axe the lowest rate of income tax, and curbed the government’s flagship energy price freeze.

The moves bolstered the British pound and pushed lower British bond yields after prior announcements by predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng tanked financial markets.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.9 per cent at 30,200.72.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.6 per cent to 3,675.52, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 3.2 per cent to 10,647.88.

In the latest earnings announcement, Bank of America rose 4.2 per cent after reporting better-than-expected results despite adding US$378 million (RM1.7 million) in reserves due to the risk defaults from of bad loans.

The results were similar to those by other banks last week, with executives describing US consumers as remaining healthy for now but facing more headwinds due to inflation.

This week’s earnings calendar includes reports from Netflix, Procter & Gamble and Tesla. — AFP