U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, supported by upbeat Chinese data, while investors eyed upcoming U.S. manufacturing data amid expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin tapering its stimulus program sooner than anticipated.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.44%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.36%, while the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 0.43%.
Equities found support after China's official purchasing managers' index released earlier in the day rose to 51.4 in Octoer, the highest in 18 months, from 51.1 in September.
Meanwhile, recent series of positive U.S. data added to expectations for the Fed to begin tapering its stimulus program sooner than expected.
On Thursday, data showed that manufacturing activity in the Chicago region expanded at the fastest rate in 30 years in October, while a separate report showed that U.S. initial jobless claims fell in line with expectations last week.
Apple edged up 0.19%, as the tech giant's new iPad Air model was set to begin selling in U.S. stores on Friday.
In the auto sector, Tesla Motors surged 3.08% even after saying it suffered its biggest one-month loss of market value in October amid concern among some investors that a fivefold stock-price surge outpaced the growth prospects for Elon Musk’s electric-car company.
Adding to gains, Facebook rallied 3.44% as the social media giant said this week that it doesn’t plan to increase the balance of ads that it shows to users in their news feeds.
Facebook said ads took up 5% of the posts in news feeds in the second quarter and have risen only modestly since then.
On the downside, Chevron shares tumbled 1.71% after the oil company reported a decline in third-quarter profit, weighed by lower refining margins.
American International Group dove 6.39% after naming Brian Schreiber and Geoffrey Cornell deputy chief investment officers.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 edged up 0.06%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.10%, Germany's DAX dipped 0.05%, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.15%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.19%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.88%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report from the Institute of Supply Management on manufacturing activity.
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