The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 617.75 points, or 1.82 percent, to 34,639.79. The S&P 500 increased 64.06 points, or 1.42 percent, to 4,577.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 127.27 points, or 0.83 percent, to 15,381.32.
All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with industrial and energy up 2.89 percent and 2.85 percent, respectively, leading the gains.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower 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.
U.S. stocks have suffered bouts of volatility recently amid concerns over Omicron, a new COVID-19 variant.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an array of new measures in fighting COVID-19 as two confirmed cases of Omicron have been reported in the country.
On the economic front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 222,000 in the week ending Nov. 27, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Department of Labor said on Thursday.
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