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U.S. stocks slightly higher in light trade; Dow Jones up 0.15%

Published 05/14/2013, 09:43 AM
Updated 05/14/2013, 09:45 AM

Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened slightly higher in light trade on Tuesday, although gains were expected to remain limited amid mounting expectations for the Federal Reserve to end its easing program earlier than expected.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.15%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.30%, while the Nasdaq Composite index edged up 0.18%.

Investors locked in profits ahead of a raft of U.S. economic data later in the week, including reports on industrial production, housing starts, inflation and economic sentiment.

Stocks also remained under pressure amid speculation over a possible near-term exit from the Fed’s asset purchase program after recent U.S. data indicated that the economic outlook is improving.

Financial stocks were broadly higher, as shares in JP Morgan advanced 0.95% and Citigroup jumped 1.29%, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America rallied 1.40% and 1.31% respectively.

Adding to gains, Clorox, the bleach maker with products ranging from Hidden Valley salad dressing to Glad trash bags, climbed 0.44% after sayint it will raise its dividend by 11%, higher than analysts estimated.

On the downside, AT&T slipped 0.14% amid reports it is considering whether to stop selling an HTC phone that integrates Facebook social-networking features after cutting the price by about USD100.

Also in the telecom sector, Verizon Wireless, the mobile-phone joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, edged down 0.10% as it was reportedly planning to pay a USD7 billion dividend to its co-owners, defusing a source of tension between the two companies.

Among tech stocks, Dell declined 0.30% after as the personal computer manufacturer accused at least six makers of optical disk drives including Hitachi of conspiring to fix prices of their products from 2004 to 2010.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.26%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.15%, Germany's DAX edged up 0.14%, while Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.51%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.26%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.16%.


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