NEW YORK—US stocks opened the new year with a bang on Tuesday, lifted by positive manufacturing data in China and the eurozone that beat expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 232.50 points (1.90 percent) to 12,450.06 in the first 10 minutes of trade.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite jumped 58.36 points (2.24 percent) to 2,663.51, while the S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, advanced 23.67 points (1.88 percent) to 1,281.27.
The Dow’s 30 blue chips and almost all other stocks look likely “to begin 2012 on a strong note, notwithstanding building geopolitical tension in and around Iran that has helped boost oil prices back above $100 per barrel,” said Patrick O’Hare at Briefing.com.
“The bullish bias comes on the heels of none other than better-than-expected economic data,” he said. “Specifically, manufacturing reports for December out of China and the eurozone topped expectations.”
The three major indices had closed the final session of 2011 Friday in the red, but for the year the Dow was up 5.5 percent, while the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq fell 1.8 percent as investors appeared to pause ahead of the extended New Year’s holiday weekend.