About five minutes into trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 22.17 points (0.17 percent) to 13,274.93.
The broad-market S&P 500 edged up 1.72 (0.12 percent) to 1,404.32, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.51 points (0.05 percent) to 3,054.86.
The Labor department reported a pickup in overall consumer prices in February, with an 0.4 percent month-on-month increase.
But it placed the blame almost entirely on surging pump prices for gasoline: food prices were flat, and the core consumer price index rose just 0.1 percent, slower than in January.
The Federal Reserve meanwhile said industrial production in February was flat from the previous month. But it also raised its earlier estimate for growth in January to 0.4 percent, giving an overall picture of only modest expansion in the sector so far this year.