NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks managed to end higher on Monday as the latest data and Fed official comments support investors’ optimism.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 100.71 points, or 0.30 percent, to 33,987.18. The S&P 500 added 13.68 points, or 0.33 percent, to 4,151.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 34.26 points, or 0.28 percent, to 12,157.72.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green with real estate and financials sectors leading the gainers rising 2.23 percent and 1.13 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and communication services sectors led the laggards both down 1.27 percent.

The manufacturing index in New York State was 10.8 in April, much better than market forecast consensus of -18.3 and -24.6 in the previous month, according to data issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday morning.

Business activity increased in New York State for the first time in five months, according to a survey by the New York Fed.

“Our economy works just fine with rates at this level,” said Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin on Monday.

Barkin said he was pretty assured by the progress on fighting inflation but wanted to see more evidence of inflation settling back to Fed Reserves’ target.

So far, early results and guidance from U.S. companies whose fiscal quarter ended in February have been encouraging, beating earnings estimates by 6 percent compared with 3 percent in recent quarters, despite concerns that the recent tightening in credit conditions could weigh on corporate profits, said UBS in a report on Monday.

Still, UBS kept warning investors on headwinds facing U.S. equities this year though the upcoming earnings season may not weigh on market sentiment.

Investors are waiting for earnings results from more heavyweight U.S. companies to assess the dynamics of corporate performance.