Reports that Citigroup's chairman Richard Parsons said the bank doesn't need additional government support after receiving three rounds of emergency funding is helping to sustain market optimism.
Also, a government report showing that the U.S. trade gap narrowed in January helped lift stocks.
In the first few minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 12 points to 7,182. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up less than 1 point to 751, while the Nasdaq composite index is down 4 to 1,421.
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