NEW YORK, Feb 9 — Wall Street stocks rose again early today amid improving investor sentiment as several US states relaxed indoor mask mandates following the recent dip in Covid-19 cases.

New York was expected later today to join California, New Jersey and other states in easing restrictions following a sharp drop in Omicron infections since mid-January.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said investors had returned to the "fear of missing out” on future stock gains, despite lingering unease over tightening monetary policy and the Ukraine situation.

"The stock market is feeling better and looking better this morning,” O’Hare said. "The specific reasons are a bit nebulous, but we can venture to say that market participants appear to be fixed on a feeling that they don’t need to feel as negative as before.”

About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8 per cent at 35,751.53.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.1 per cent to 4,569.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.0 per cent to 14,348,73. 

Chipotle Mexican Grill shot up 6.4 per cent after it reported better-than-expected profits on a 22 per cent jump in quarterly revenues to US$2 billion (RM8.3 billion).

But CVS Health fell 3.6 per cent despite results that beat expectations, as the company confirmed its full-year forecast but did not raise estimates. — AFP