What's moving markets today

Global markets are higher today, following a surge on Wall Street late Wednesday.

The Dow climbed 1.8%, closing above 25,000 for the first time since December 7. The S&P 500 was up 1.6%, and the Nasdaq was up 2.2%.

The optimism was fueled by the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates on hold.

Markets got another lift later when Facebook (FB) revealed a record $6.9 billion profit for the final quarter of 2018, despite its seemingly endless PR crises. Its shares rose more than 10% in extended trading.

The positive trend looks set to continue. US stock futures were pointing higher early in the day, while stocks in Europe and Asia also posted gains.

Now, the next cue for markets could stem from the outcome of trade talks later Thursday between China and the US.

Also ahead — we're watching lots of company earnings:

Before the bell: Blackstone (BX), DowDuPont (DWDP), Ferrari (RACE), GE (GE), Hershey (HSY), MasterCard (MA), Nokia (NOK), Sprint (S) and UPS (UPS).
After the bell: Amazon (AMZN) and Yum China (YUMC).