NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Friday after a US retail sales report bested expectations and Chinese trade data suggested solid growth in the world’s second-biggest economy.
US retail sales jumped 1.6 percent in September due to strong trade in cars, car parts and fuel following US hurricanes, Commerce Department data showed.
Analysts also said sentiment was boosted by Chinese trade data that showed exports grew 8.1 percent and imports expanded 18.7 percent in September, compared with the same period last year. The surge in imports shows demand in China is strong.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 22,877.01, up 0.2 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.1 percent to 2,553.30, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.2 percent to 6,606.94.
Wells Fargo sank 3.9 percent after reporting a sharp decline in third-quarter earnings due to $1 billion in legal costs and elevated compliance costs following a fake accounts scandal.
Bank of America dipped 0.9 percent despite reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $5.1 billion, up 15 percent from the year-ago period.
Health shares fell after President Donald Trump moved to weaken the Obamacare health law. The White House plans to halt payments to insurers that are designed to help millions of lower income Americans afford coverage after earlier announcing an executive order that would deregulate parts of the insurance industry.
Dow member UnitedHealth Group fell 1.3 percent and fellow insurer Aetna lost 1.4 percent, while hospital company HCA Healthcare dropped 1.6 percent.
