US stocks surged above last month’s highs to take the Dow Jones Industrial Average beyond 8,000 on Thursday after the Financial Accounting Standards Board relaxed mark-to-market accounting, which has been blamed for exacerbating banks’ capital problems.

The changes mean banks can mark toxic assets by their own models rather than what they would fetch on the open market. Some analysts have calculated the change could boost quarterly profits at some banks by up to 20 per cent.