US stocks build on Friday's strong up-move

Major US equity indices built on Friday's upbeat jobs report-led strong gains and opened higher on the first trading day of a new week. 

Investors appeared to shrug off global trade tensions during the opening hour of trade, especially after trade talks between the US and China broke down over the weekend. 

Enthusiasm over Friday's blockbuster headline NFP print and an unexpected decline in the unemployment rates, which strengthened the case for a bright economic outlook, remained supportive of the early strong gains.

Trade developments would continue to grab market attention, with fresh signals of strong retaliatory measures by any of the major allies expected to trigger a sudden turnaround in investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities. 

Nevertheless, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by over 200-points to 24,839 and the broader S&P 500 Index climbed 13-points to 2,747 during the opening hour of trade. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index broadly underperformed the broader markets and climbed 25-points to 7,580.