ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION<br/> <br />STORY: Traders were seeing green at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as Kermit the Frog rang the opening bell on Monday (March 17).<br/> <br />Kermit was promoting his new film "Muppets Most Wanted" which opens in U.S. movie theaters on March 21st.<br/> <br />U.S. stocks rose sharply at the open, rebounding from a steep drop in the previous week, after Sunday's (March 16) referendum over whether Crimea will join Russia passed without violence.<br/> <br />The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 178.05 points or 1.11 percent, to 16,243.72, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 18.11 points or 0.98 percent, to 1,859.24 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 47.048 points or 1.11 percent, to 4,292.444.
