U.S. stocks open higher as investors digest retail sales data, Wall Street earnings

U.S. stocks opened higher Friday, as investors weighed data from the U.S. Census Bureau showing retail sales were flat last month as well as third-quarter earnings reports from Wall Street banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.86% was up 0.5% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.67% gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -2.16% rose 0.9%, according to FactSet data, at last check. Investors are digesting earnings results from Wells Fargo & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co.