NEW YORK, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday, as the market was lifted by a series of robust corporate earnings, boosting investor sentiment previously dampened by weakening U.S. retail sales.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80.23 points, or 0.30 percent, to 27,082.21. The S&P 500 increased 13.99 points, or 0.47 percent, to 3,003.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 48.28 points, or 0.59 percent, to 8,172.46.

The overwhelming majority of the blue-chip stocks in the Dow extended gains around the opening bell, with shares of Walt Disney and Nike both up over 0.9 percent, leading the winners.

Yet six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around market opening, with the energy sector down nearly 1.5 percent, leading the losers.

Another batch of companies continue to underpin the market with stronger-than-expected earnings in the third quarter, including Netflix and Morgan Stanley, which extended gains of nearly 5 percent and over 3.6 percent respectively around market opening.

So far, over 76 percent of the S&P 500 companies have reported earnings results that beat market estimates, according to FactSet. Enditem

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