Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, supported by the release of positive U.S. industrial production data and despite mounting concerns over the situation in Crimea.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.81%, the S&P 500 gained 0.82%, while the Nasdaq Composite index jumped 0.95%.
Data showed that U.S. industrial production rose 0.6% in February, exceeding expectations for a 0.1% gain. Industrial production in January was revised to a 0.2% fall from a previously estimated 0.3% decline.
In a separate report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its Empire State manufacturing index ticked up to 5.6 this month, from a reading of 4.5 in February, confounding expectations for a rise to 6.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor events in Europe, after over 90% of Crimean voters on Sunday chose to break with Ukraine and join Russia. Crimea's Parliament on Monday formally asked to join the Russian Federation.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington rejected the results of the referendum and warned that the U.S. was ready to impose sanctions on Moscow.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as the Federal Reserve was set to complete stress tests of the ability of the biggest U.S. lenders to survive new economic disasters.
JPMorgan Chase jumped 0.93% at the open of the U.S. trading session, while Bank of America and Citigroup jumped 1.55% and 1.49% respectively.
Twitter added to gains, up 0.68, as the company's Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo was preparing to meet Shanghai government officials, academics and students in his first visit to China, signaling the social media giant's interest in entering a lucrative market with 600 million Internet users.
Elsewhere, U.S.-traded Vodafone rallied 1.20% after the wireless carrier agreed to buy Spain's largest cable operator Ono for $10 billion, in a move to rebuild the company's European operations with a broadband offering.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 jumped 1.04%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.94%, Germany's DAX gained 0.85%, while Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.72%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.30%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slid 0.35%.