Wall Street stocks opened higher Thursday after big US banks cleared Federal Reserve stress tests and the dollar retreated from a 12-year high.
Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,754.13, up 118.74 points (0.67 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 11.84 (0.58 percent) to 2,052.08, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 13.50 (0.28 percent) at 4,863.44.
Citigroup jumped 3.3 and Morgan Stanley gained 4.0 percent on higher dividend and shareholder repurchase announcements following the Fed`s approval of their capital plans.
Bank of America rose 0.4 percent after it announced a new share repurchase plan following a conditional passing grade from the US central bank that gives it until September to remedy weaknesses in its capital plan.
The euro rose to $1.0612 from $1.0548, pausing from a rally in the wake of a European Central Bank bond-buying program launched Monday. The stronger dollar has weighed on equities recently as investors worried about its negative impact on multinational companies` profits.
