US open: Stocks higher as investors mull over CPI reading

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Wall Street stocks were higher early on Wednesday as investors digested some hotly anticipated inflation data.

As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.39% at 33,815.53, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.36% to 4,123.71 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.24% firmer at 12,061.26.

The Dow opened 130.74 higher on Wednesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.

Wednesday's primary focus will be on March's all-important consumer price index, which revealed that the cost of living fell back more than expected. According to the Department of Labor, the US consumer price index increased at a seasonally adjusted month-on-month rate of 0.1% in March - short of consensus estimates for a reading of 0.2%. That pushed the annual rate of gain down to 5.0%. At the core level, prices were up by 0.4% month-on-month, as expected.

The CPI reading is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge and the outcome of the report may very well affect the central bank's thinking come rate decision time at the next FOMC meeting.

Elsewhere on the macro front, US mortgage applications rose 5.3% in the week ended 31 March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, bouncing back from the prior week's 4.1% drop. Applications to purchase a home surged 7.8%, while those to refinance a home loan rose just 0.1%.

Still to come, minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's most recent meeting will be released at 1900 BST, as will the Federal Government's monthly budget statement.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Wednesday but quarterly figures from the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup will be published before the end of the week, the first updates since panic spread through the banking sector just last month.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $57.63 2.56%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $191.08 1.16%
Visa Inc. (V) $230.90 1.07%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $129.84 1.03%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $170.92 1.00%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $222.63 0.92%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $330.10 0.83%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $124.27 0.79%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $524.40 0.66%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $284.61 0.63%