Wall Street opens higher as Irma, North Korea fears ebb

Wall Street was sharply higher on Monday morning in a broad rally led by technology and financial stocks, especially insurers, on relief that Irma weakened to a tropical storm and North Korea did not conduct a nuclear test as feared.

Irma pounded heavily populated areas of central Florida over the weekend, but gradually lost strength and was downgraded to a tropical storm in the morning.

Irma had started off a category 5 hurricane and was once ranked as one of the most powerful recorded in the Atlantic. It came on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, whose devastations economists said would dent third-quarter economic growth.

Also boosting risk appetite was North Korea holding a massive celebration on it the founding day on Saturday, instead of another long-range missile launch as the United States and its allies were bracing for.

With the tensions easing, world stocks climbed to a record high, while the dollar edged higher and gold retreated from Friday's 13-month high.

"For now, we're seeing a bit of a relief rally. It does appear that the worst-case scenario for Florida has been evaded," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.
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