NEW YORK: Wall Street opened higher on Thursday, a day after Federal Reserve minutes showed policymakers expect to raise interest rates again soon.
The positive open had US stocks poised to finish higher for the sixth consecutive trading session, a day after the S&P 500 set a new all-time record.
About 10 minutes into the day's trading, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial
Average gained 0.2 percent to 21,062.62, as had the tech-heavy Nasdaq which was up to 6,177.49.
The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 0.2 percent to 2,408.78, putting within reach of a fresh record close.
Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com said investors saw Wall Street's plunge last week as a buying opportunity, which pushed markets higher.
Stocks on May 17 had their worst trading session of the year on reports of more Russia-related controversy in President Donald Trump's White House.
"A bullish bias is a sign of the current trading times," O'Hare wrote. "The bias is holding up so far, too, despite a 1.2 percent drop in oil prices."
The long-suffering retail sector was a bright spot at the open, with struggling department store giant Sears jumping 18 percent on news it achieved its first quarterly profit in almost two years.
Electronics chain Best Buy surged nearly 13 percent after posting better-than-expected results.
Fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, which is in talks to sell itself, saw share prices rise 8.3 percent despite reporting a first-quarter loss of 91 cents per share.
Oil shares were mixed at the open, with Exxon Mobil up 0.1 percent but Chevron down 0.2 percent and Royal Dutch Shell falling 0.3 percent.
Crude prices fell, with a barrel of West Texas Intermediate below $51.
The moves in oil came followed a decision from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to extend an agreement on production limits but ruling out deeper cuts to boost prices.
Comments
Comments are closed.