The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 534.75 points, or 1.56 percent, to 34,912.56. The S&P 500 rose 74.46 points, or 1.71 percent, to 4,438.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 251.79 points, or 1.73 percent, to 14,823.43.
All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with materials and technology up 2.43 percent and 2.28 percent, respectively, leading the gains.
Bank of America posted third-quarter results on Thursday that exceeded analysts' expectations, sending the stock up more than 4 percent.
Morgan Stanley and Citigroup shares also rose after beating earnings expectations.
Meanwhile, investors cheered a lower-than-anticipated number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits last week.
The Department of Labor reported that U.S. jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, decreased by 36,000 to 293,000 in the week ending Oct. 9, notching a fresh pandemic-era low. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had estimated new claims would drop to a seasonally adjusted 318,000.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower on Thursday with seven of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.
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