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Thursday is looking much better than Wednesday on Wall Street. Stocks opened higher after a sharp sell-off the previous day erased the market's gains for the year. In the first hour of trading Thursday, the Dow rose more than 200 points, shy of 1%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained similarly. Big earnings gains for several US companies helped encourage investors to start hitting the "buy" button again, per the AP. Microsoft jumped 4.3% and Ford climbed 5.7% after releasing encouraging results and forecasts. Tesla soared 8% after reporting its biggest-ever profit, and appliance maker Whirlpool rose 4.5%. European markets were mostly higher, too. (Tesla shared some big news Wednesday.)