US stocks traded higher in the morning session on Monday as investors digested a batch of newly-released economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday rose 209.63 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 24,569.77. The S&P 500 increased 19.78 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 2,676.08, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 40.39 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 7,147.04.
Advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for March came in at $494.6 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent from the previous month and beating market consensus, the Commerce Department announced on Monday.
Investors also kept a close eye on the US-led strikes on Syria over the weekend.
The US, along with its allies Britain and France, launched a surprise missile attack against Syrian military positions on Saturday, causing a flurry of mixed reactions across the Middle East.
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