S&P 500 Index opens higher as financial stocks extend rally

• Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Thursday.
• All major sectors of the S&P 500 trade in the positive territory.
• Financial stocks continue to push higher on the back of rising T-bond yields.

Following Wednesday's volatile session, major equity indexes in the US opened in the positive territory on Thursday as risk flows continue to dominate financial markets. Mirroring the upbeat market mood, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street's fear gauge, is down 7.5% at 23.20.

As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.46% at 30,966, the S&P 500 was gaining 0.82% at 3,779 and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 1.35% at 12,991.

All major sectors of the S&P 500 trade in the green after the opening bell. For the second straight day, the Financials Index is the top performer, rising 1.62% on the back of a more-than-3% gain in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield. 

Earlier in the day, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor showed that the Initial Jobless Claims edged lower to 787,000 and came in much better than the market expectation of 833,000. Later in the session, the ISM Services PMI data will be looked upon for fresh catalysts.

S&P 500 chart (daily)