Wall St picks up after sell-off as investors weigh Biden exit effect; Nasdaq rises 1%

Wall St opens higher as investors assess US election after Biden exit

Wall Street stocks opened higher early Monday as tech shares bounced back after a recent pullback, as investors looked ahead to major earnings and economic data due this week.

The US presidential race had produced a surprise over the weekend with Joe Biden bowing out of the race and throwing support to Vice President Kamala Harris.

"We had, of course, enormous political news. But I don't know that that's really what's driving things right now," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. "I think this is some bargain hunting after a rough week."

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 40,357.10.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.0 percent to 5,557.17, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.5 percent to 17,985.79.

Among individual companies Delta Air Lines slumped 3.6 percent as it continued to be plagued by a major IT outage connected to a flawed update to an antivirus program from American cybersecurity group CrowdStrike. Delta canceled more than 660 flights on Monday, according to tracker FlightAware.

Rivals American Airlines and United Airlines fell just over one percent, while CrowdStrike plummeted nearly 10 percent.

This week's earnings calendar includes reports from Google parent Alphabet, General Motors and Coca-Cola, while the economic releases include personal consumption pricing data.