U.S. stocks surge on Draghi's dovish comments

U.S. stocks posted solid gains Thursday, as investor sentiment was buoyed by dovish remarks from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 320.55 points, or 1.87 percent, to 17,489.16. The S&P 500 jumped 33.57 points, or 1.66 percent, to 2,052.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 79.93 points, or 1.65 percent, to 4,920.05.

The ECB decided at Thursday's meeting that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05 percent, 0.30 percent and -0.20 percent, respectively.

"The asset purchases are proceeding smoothly and continue to have a favorable impact on the cost and availability of credit for firms and households," said Draghi at a press conference held after the meeting.

He said the degree of monetary policy accommodation will need to be "re-examined" at the December monetary policy meeting as euro area domestic demand remains resilient.

Some analysts thought that Draghi's comments suggested the ECB is prepared to undertake further stimulus for the euro zone.

European equities closed sharply higher Thursday following Draghi's speech, with Germany's benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange jumping 2.48 percent.

Asian shares ended mixed Thursday. Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index reversed previous day's deep decline to finish 1. 45 percent higher, while Japan's 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dipped 0.64 percent after choppy trading.

On the economic front, U.S. total existing-home sales increased 4.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.55 million in September, beating market consensus of 5.35 million, according to the National Association of Realtors Thursday.

Meanwhile, in the week ending Oct. 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 259,000, an increase of 3, 000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

In corporate news, shares of McDonald's spiked 8.12 percent to 110.87 U.S. dollars apiece Thursday, after the company's quarterly earnings and revenue topped estimates as demand recovered in China.

McDonald's announced results for the third quarter. Its diluted earnings per share were 1.40 dollars, an increase of 28 percent from a year ago.