US stocks jump at open, buoyed by surging oil prices

Major US equity indices kicked off the week on a positive note, buoyed by rallying oil prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed for an extension of OPEC-led production-cut deal.

Markets reacted positively to the news, with WTI crude oil hitting a three-week high level beyond $49.00/barrel mark, lifting energy stocks and boosting investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities. The proposed extension, however, still needs to be confirmed at this month's OPEC meeting in Vienna on May 25.

Adding to this, shared of cyber-security companies surged following the massive “ransomware” virus attacks were unleashed on Friday and further collaborated to the up-move during opening hour of trade. 

Meanwhile, investors seemed to have largely ignored renewed worries over the Korean peninsula, following N.Korea's another ballistic missile test on Sunday, and the disappointing release of Empire State Manufacturing Index for May. According to the NY Fed, a gauge measuring manufacturing activity in the New York-area slumped into contraction territory during May, for the first time since the US presidential election, with the index falling to -1.0, from 5.2 reported in April.

During early trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained around 65-points to 20,960, while the broader S&P 500 Index added over 6-points to 2,397. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose nearly 14-points to 6,134.

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