Wall Street opens higher amid earnings, tech deal

REUTERS - U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday after a flurry of strong quarterly earnings in the healthcare sector and a multi-billion dollar technology deal boosted investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 49.89 points, or 0.27 percent, at 18,249.22, the S&P 500 was up 7.64 points, or 0.36 percent, at 2,147.07 and the Nasdaq composite was up 23.05 points, or 0.44 percent, at 5,273.32.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)