Wednesday's early afternoon trade: Stocks up on Macy's boost, Russell 2000 hits record

Wall Street rose on Wednesday, with the small cap Russell 2000 index hitting a record, as Macy's strong results lit up the retail sector and Micron led gains in the technology sector.
Macy's shares surged 10.5 percent, hitting a 52-week high, after the department store operator reported strong results and raised its profit forecast.
The report help boost the consumer discretionary sector, which rose 0.92 percent, while the consumer staples index gained 0.72 percent.
Walmart and Nike, both components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Target were up between 1.4 and 3.2 percent.
"You had pretty solid numbers from Macy's and it has been an early trigger for outperformance in the retail space today," said Michael James, managing director of institutional equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
Macy's results come a day after strong April retail sales data showed consumer spending was picking up, stoking inflation worries and sending US government bond yields higher.
At 13:01 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 74.22 points, or 0.30 percent, at 24,780.63, the S&P 500 was up 14.08 points, or 0.52 percent, at 2,725.53 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 55.29 points, or 0.75 percent, at 7,406.92.
Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with only the rate-sensitive utilities and real estate sectors in the red.
The technology index was up 0.5 percent, with chipmakers the biggest gainers.
Micron jumped 4.4 percent after RBC Capital Markets rated the stock "outperform," while AMD gained 3.2 percent on a Susquehanna upgrade to "neutral".