Wall Street rebounds on retail data

US stocks have closed higher as a surge in US retail sales helped improve the mood of investors after last week's falls.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 146.49 points, or 0.91%, to 16,173.24.

The broad-based S&P 500 lifted 14.92 points, or 0.82%, to 1,830.61, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 22.96 points, or 0.57%, to 4,022.69.

At one stage in the session stocks had moved over 1% higher as the retail sector shrugged off a disappointing winter to post the largest sales rise in 18 months. The 1.1% lift in March sales comfortably topped market expectations.

The result helped overcome recent pessimism around markets, which had led to sharp falls at the end of last week.

A better-than-expected first quarter profit result from large US bank Citigroup was also cheered by investors, with the news offsetting a disappointing result from fellow heavyweight JP Morgan on Friday.