Wall Street opens modestly higher on upbeat NFP data

Major equity indexes in the United States started the day in the positive territory on Friday after this week's most important data from the U.S. showed that nonfarm employment increased more than expected. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.22% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.37% and 0.45%, respectively.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today said that following February's dismal 33,000 growth (revised up from 20,000), nonfarm employment rose by 196,000 in March to surpass the analysts' estimate of 180,000. In addition to the strong employment data, White House economic advisor Kudlow told Bloomberg that the U.S.-China trade talks were moving in the right direction and announced that top officials from each side were set to have more talks next week to help market sentiment stay positive.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, which are all in the positive territory in the early trade, Energy and Healthcare were up 0.85% and 0.65% to lead the gains.