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NEW YORK - US stocks bounced higher at the market
open on Wednesday following the release of a benign inflation report and better-than-expected corporate earnings from Intel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 102.83 points or 0.83 per cent to
12,465.30 within the first three minutes of trade.
The tech-rich Nasdaq composite soared 30.05 points or 1.31 per cent to
2,2316.09 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 12.91 points or 0.97 per cent to 1,347.34.
On Tuesday Wall Street stocks posted gains after Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced their merger and Johnson & Johnson unveiled stronger-than-expected quarterly profits.
The Dow rose 0.49 per cent, the Nasdaq was up 0.45 per cent and the S&P 500 added 0.46 per cent.
The Labor Department report that consumer prices rose a modest 0.3 per cent
in March, released before the stock market opened and in line with market expectations, sparked buying as investors saw it as signaling the Federal Reserve will have more leeway to lower interest rates at its April 30 meeting.
'This report gives the Fed some cover to lower rates further, which is
expected,' said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
'As for the markets, this report should be received quite well by both bond
and equity investors as it does not point to inflation becoming a huge
problem.' -- AFP
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