US open: Dow and S&P 500 edge forward after retail data

US stocks advanced early on Wednesday, as investors recovered from turbulence in the bond market and digested uninspiring retail data.

Just before 15:00 BST. the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 64 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 10 and 34 points respectively.

US retail sales volumes were flat month-on-month in April at $436.8bn, according to the US Department of Commerce, while economists had been expecting a 0.2% increase.

"Even though we haven't yet seen the sort of spring rebound in sales that we were originally looking for, all the other evidence still appears to suggest an acceleration in consumption growth is coming," said Paul Ashwort, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

"Nevertheless, alongside the surge in long-term interest rates over the past few weeks, the ongoing softness of retail sales is another reason to believe that the Fed will delay the first rate hike until September at least."

Meanwhile, US import prices declined unexpectedly in April led by a drop in prices of non-fuel imports.

Prices of goods purchased from overseas fell by 0.3% and by another 10.7% in comparison to the year ago level, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Analysts had forecast a 0.2% rise month-on-month.

Shares of Hortonworks Inc. jumped 6% after the data-software company reported a smaller-than-expected loss for the quarter. late on Tuesday.

Filtration, separation and purification company Pall Corp. rose 4.95% after announcing a deal to be acquired by Danaher Corp, which rose 2.94%

Williams Partners L.P. soared 23.1% after gas infrastructure group Williams Companies Inc, which gained 6.31%, announced an a deal to buy the public equity of Williams Partners in $13.8bn deal.

The earnings season continues with restaurant operator Shake Shack, IT giant Cisco and department store set to report after the close.

Elsewhere, European markets edged higher as they recovered from a bond sell-off on Tuesday, while gross domestic product data showed France and Italy returned to expansion in the first quarter of 2015.

The dollar lost 0.13% against the pound and fell 0.46% against the yen and 0.88% against the euro, while gold futures advanced 0.13% to 1,194.00.

Oil prices moved higher, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 1.03% to $61.38 a barrel, while Brent crude climbed 0.76% to $67.37 a barrel.