Wall Street opens higher on bank optimism

 Stocks opened higher on Monday after influential bank analyst Meredith Whitney upgraded Goldman Sachs Group to "buy" and gave a bullish assessment of the financial sector's likely performance, sparking hope that quarterly results may be surprisingly strong.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 23.43 points, or 0.29 percent, at 8,169.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 3.32 points, or 0.38 percent, at 882.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 3.79 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,759.82.