NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks opened solidly higher Friday, pushing the Nasdaq back above 10,000 points as investors continue to shrug off concerns about rising coronavirus cases in many US states.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9 percent at 26,322.48.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.0 percent to 3,145.35, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.9 percent to 10,035.84.

All three major indices are in positive territory for the week following earlier data that showed a surprisingly big jump in retail sales but also disappointingly high unemployment claims.

In general, investors are in "sunshine" mode, ignoring bad news and focusing on aggressive Federal Reserve stimulus, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Among individual companies, AMC Entertainment rose 6.8 percent after its chief executive said the company would begin reopening movie theaters next month.

The company will require masks of customers in jurisdictions where it is mandated, but not in areas where there is no directive from authorities, CNN reported.