NEW YORK, Jul 16- US stocks powered higher in opening trade Thursday underpinned by solid earnings in the banking and technology sectors.
Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 66.61 points (0.37 percent) at 18,116.78.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 12.18 (0.58 percent) at 2,119.58, while the tech rich Nasdaq Composite jumped 34.34 (0.67 percent) to 5,133.28.
Leading the way were Netflix, up 11 percent, and Citigroup, 2.7 percent, after both beat expectations for second quarter results.