U.S. stocks open higher amid upbeat earnings

NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday as Wall Street cheered over a string of strong quarterly earnings reports.

Shares of Netflix soared more than 5 percent in the early trading Tuesday after the video-streaming provider reported higher-than-expected subscriber growth.

Shares of Goldman Sachs rose over 1 percent in the early trading Tuesday as the U.S. bank delivered quarterly profit and revenue that both beat market consensus.

Johnson & Johnson, a Dow component, traded slightly higher in the morning session Tuesday after the pharmaceutical and consumer products company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

On the economic front, U.S. privately-owned housing was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,319,000 since March, beating market estimates, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.

This is 1.9 percent above the revised February estimate of 1,295,000 and is 10.9 percent above the March 2017 rate of 1,189,000.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228.21 points, or 0.93 percent, to 24,801.25. The S&P 500 increased 15.89 points, or 0.59 percent, to 2,693.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 50.69 points, or 0.71 percent, to 7,206.97.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday as investors digested a batch of generally positive economic reports. Enditem