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.
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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.
--IANS
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