Big Day Just Erased Week's Dismal Start

What began as a miserable week on Wall Street is suddenly looking more upbeat. In fact, a big rally on Thursday pushed major indexes back into positive territory for the week, reports CNBC. The Dow rose 506 points, or 1.4%, to 34,764; the S&P 500 rose 53 points, or 1.2%, to 4,448; and the Nasdaq rose 155 points, or 1%, to 15,052. The big driver behind the surge is that investors seem convinced that a Chinese real estate giant on the brink of default won't trigger global trouble, per the Wall Street Journal. One caveat: The Chinese company, Evergrande, had an $83 million bond payment due Thursday, and there was still no word on whether it would be paid.

“There is some confidence that the (Chinese) government is standing by to make sure that this doesn’t become more widespread,” Stephanie Lang of Homrich Berg tells the Journal. “There is no clear indication that they are going to prop up Evergrande, but they will make sure that this won’t spillover more broadly.” Also helping the market: The Fed put out a statement Wednesday saying that it planned no immediate moves in regard to winding back stimulus policies. But it reiterated that the programs will be gradually scaled back if the economy remains on track. (More stock market stories.)