New York - US stocks climbed in early trade Wednesday after a major industrial takeover and weak retail sales data that cast doubt on an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate increase.
About an hour into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35.67 points (0.20 percent) at 18,103.90.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 6.24 (0.30 percent) to 2,105.36, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 24.34 (0.49 percent) at 5,000.53.
US retail sales were virtually unchanged in April, the Commerce Department reported; most analysts had expected a 0.2 percent increase.
The disappointing report, a piece of the picture on consumer spending that accounts for two-thirds of US economic activity, was seen as putting a potential chill on the Fed's plan to raise its near-zero federal funds interest rate, signalled by the central bank as coming as early as June.
"This important data point is one that won't leave the Fed feeling confident about raising the fed funds rate in June," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.
All three indices opened higher, shaking off two straight sessions of losses. On Tuesday, stocks ended modestly lower as US Treasury bonds retreated slightly from a surge amid bond market volatility.
Industrial company Danaher rose 2.1 percent after saying it will pay $13.8 billion to buy water-filtration company Pall. Pall leaped 4.8 percent after gaining 19.4 percent Tuesday on reports of a pending acquisition deal.
Danaher also announced it would split into two independent companies: a science and technology growth company including Pall and NewCo, and a diversified industrial growth company.
Delta Air Lines jumped 2.2 percent after announcing a 50 percent dividend increase and a $5 billion share repurchase program.
Dow member DuPont dived 6.1 percent after a shareholder vote defeated an attempt to shake up the chemicals giant by activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management.
Giant department store chain Macy's tumbled 2.6 percent after announcing first-quarter results that missed market expectations. The company blamed the West Coast port slowdown and severe winter weather early in the quarter for sales that came in lower than it had forecast.
Bond prices advanced. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.22 percent from 2.25 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.99 percent from 3.02 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
AFP
