Thursday's early trade: Wall Street add to records; Disney rises on Fox deal

Wall Street stocks rose early Thursday, adding to records, following solid US retail sales data and as Disney advanced following a mammoth acquisition of key 21st Century Fox assets. Total US retail and food services sales last month jumped 0.8 percent over October as the holiday shopping season got off to a good start in the world's biggest economy.
Analysts said sentiment was also lifted by progress on the tax cut plan in Congress and data showing further tightening in the labor market. About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 24,645.10, up 0.2 percent, advancing from Wednesday's record close.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 2,666.03, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to 6,408.34. Dow member Disney gained 0.6 percent after unveiling $52.4 billion stock deal to buy key Fox Hollywood film and television studios, among other businesses.
The deal brings popular entertainment properties including X-Men, Avatar, The Simpsons, FX Networks and National Geographic into Disney's portfolio. Fox dipped 0.1 percent. Delta Air Lines rose 1.4 percent after it announced it ordered 100 Airbus planes with an option to buy 100 more, in a blow to Airbus' American rival Boeing. The announcement came as part of a Delta investor day. Boeing advanced 1.3 percent.