US stocks trade higher on easing US-China trade war fears

Major US equity indices kicked off a new week on a firmer note and reversed a part of Friday's trade tariff driven brutal selloff.

In an attempt to deflate the fears of a full-blown trade war, officials of the Trump administration softened their approach and stressed to resolve the trade dispute with China through talks, helping boost investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities. 

Meanwhile, the market had a rather muted reaction to the latest geopolitical developments out of Syria, wherein some media reports indicated a suspected US missile attract on a major air base in central Syria. The negative news, to a larger extent, was negated by the news that N. Korean leader Kim Jong Un is ready to talk about denuclearization and reaffirmed summit talks with the US President Donald Trump.

Investors now look forward to the start of first-quarter earnings season on Thursday this week, with tax cuts expected to help corporate to post good quarterly profit growth in years and pave the way for resumption of the prior bullish trajectory.

During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average held on to gains of over 130-points, just above 24,000 mark, and the broader S&P 500 Index added nearly 15-points to 2,620. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index outperformed the broader markets and climbed around 70-points, or 1.0%, and inched back closer to the 7,000 round figure mark.