Wall St opens higher as rate hike pause hopes grow

Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted it was close to pausing interest rate hikes amid a turmoil in the banking sector that threatens to cause a severe economic downturn.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 71.38 points, or 0.22%, at the open to 32,101.49.

The S&P 500 SPX opened higher by 22.24 points, or 0.56%, at 3,959.21, while the Nasdaq Composite IXIC gained 141.36 points, or 1.21%, to 11,811.32 at the opening bell.