U.S. stocks open higher on Chinese trade data, JPMorgan earnings

U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday after strong Chinese trade data and JPMorgan Chase's better-than-expected quarterly profit.

China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year on year in March, the first increase since December, compared with a slump of 20.6 percent in February and a 6.6-percent fall in January, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs.

Imports dipped 1.7 percent, an improvement from February's 8-percent drop.

China's stocks staged a rally Wednesday as trade data suggested stabilization in the Chinese economy.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase reported first-quarter 2016 net income of 5.5 billion U.S. dollars, or 1.35 dollars per share, on revenue of 24.1 billion dollars. Shares of JPMorgan rose 3.44 percent at 61.32 dollars per share in the early trading.

On the economic front, the advance estimates of U.S retail and food services sales for March were 446.9 billion dollars, a decrease of 0.3 percent from the previous month, and 1.7 percent above March 2015, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

The Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.1 percent in March, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday. On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index moved down 0.1 percent for the 12 months ended in March.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 118.00 points, or 0.67 percent, to 17,839.25. The S&P 500 rose 13.00 points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,074.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 35.83 points, or 0.74 percent, to 4,907.92. Endi