US stocks open higher, adding to records

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks added to records early Tuesday, extending a positive run for equities ahead of key housing and retail data later in the holiday-shortened week.

Stocks have been steadily climbing in February as President Joe Biden works to build support for a $1.9 trillion economic relief package and efforts accelerate on coronavirus vaccines. All three major indices finished last week at records.

About 35 minutes into the first trading session of the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 percent at 31,557.02.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 3,945.68, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 percent to 14,145.31.

This week's calendar includes January data on retail sales and housing starts, as well as quarterly earnings from Walmart and a congressional hearing on the volatility surrounding GameStop and a handful of other stocks.

Among individual companies, Palantir Technologies slumped 9.4 percent as the software company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $148.3 million.

Apple fell 0.4 percent following reports that Nissan said it was not working with the tech giant on autonomous driving technology.

Constellation Brands fell 3.4 percent, giving back gains last week, following a tender offer buy TRC Capital to buy up to 500,000 shares of the alcohol distributor. Constellation said it did not endorse the offer.