USA stocks opened sharply higher for a second consecutive day, following a rally in global markets amid talk of stimulus overseas. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.9% to 16,411.01.

The supermarket chain Tesco PLC said it would sell its South Korea business for $6.1 billion in cash to private-equity firm MBK Partners, the Journal also reported.

The Shanghai Composite closed 2.3 per cent higher today.

Apple shares gave the biggest boost to the S&P and the Nasdaq, rising 2.8 per cent at $112.31, a day before the iPhone maker is expected to unveil new offerings.

Markets shrugged off data from China showing shrinking imports and exports, and reacted instead to the more than 2.9 per cent rise in Chinese stocks today.

Cieszynski warned that despite Tuesday’s rally, markets are likely to remain turbulent for the next several weeks, when trading is mostly driven by sentiment, rather than fundamentals, especially ahead of the Federal Reserve policy meeting on September 16-17.

Early indications from US inventory index futures have been that Wall Road would rally additional later within the day.

Stocks are adding to their gains following the second-best day of the year for the Dow and the S&P 500.

The eurozone economy grew more rapidly than previously estimated in the three months to June, the European Union’s statistics agency said Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 3.3 percent.

“European markets are taking their lead from a buoyant Asian session, with stocks soaring higher and appearing to have put recent concerns behind them”, said Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at online stockbroker Interactive Investor. Yields move in the opposite direction of prices.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 30 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,952 as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern.

Concordia Healthcare tumbled 11.1 percent on news it will acquire pharmaceutical company Amdipharm Mercury Limited for about $3.5 billion.

“While the overall trade surplus was just shy of its record, the underlying figures were very disappointing and pointed to slowing demand, both domestically and from overseas”, he said.

The unemployment rate, however, inched down to 5.1 percent, beating market estimates of 5.2 percent and logging the lowest level in seven years. Copper jumped 3.44% to $2.39 a pound. Brent, the global benchmark, was trading 20c a barrel higher at $49.72.

On Friday, supermarket operator Kroger (KR) will need an impressive beat for a pop in its stock after management failed to raise its full-year earnings guidance last quarter, which suggested that further upside might be limited as the company cycles hard comparisons.

Gold held above a three-week low, last trading at $1,120 an ounce, having fallen as low at $1,116.20 earlier this week. USA crude-oil futures were down 0.9% at $45.66 a barrel.

This year, USA new homes prices are down 5.3%, commodity prices down 14.5%, corporate bonds are off 2.4%, mature country stock indexes are off 8.2% and the oldest and most stable US stocks are down 2.4%.