US open: Stocks trade higher following February CPI reading

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were firmly in the green at the opening bell on Tuesday as market participants digested key inflation data.

As of 1515 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.40% at 32,263.69, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.93% to 3,930.36 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 2.21% firmer at 11,435.82.

The Dow opened 444.55 points higher on Tuesday, easily reversing losses recorded in the previous session.

Tuesday's primary focus will be February's consumer price index report, which revealed the cost of living in the US continued to ease last month. According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the country's Consumer Price Index advanced at a month-on-month pace of 0.4%. However, negative base effects meant that the annual rate of increase in CPI slipped from 6.4% for January to 6.0% in February.

Zaye Capital's Naeem Aslam said: "The US CPI data has printed a mixed number today, but traders are paying less attention to the core CPI number which surged. Most traders are satisfied with the headline month-on-month data which matches the expectations."

Elsewhere on the macro front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index increased to 90.9 in February, up from 90.3 in January and the highest reading in three months.

Still to come, Federal Reserve banker Michelle Bowman will deliver a speech at 2120 GMT.

In the corporate space, United Airlines shares slumped after the carrier slashed its first quarter guidance and said it expects to report a loss of $0.60-$1.0 per share of the period, while First Republic shares surged 20% as regional banks do their best to bounce back from the previous session's SVB-fuelled sell-off.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $183.47 4.54%
American Express Co. (AXP) $163.49 3.72%
Boeing Co. (BA) $210.81 3.66%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $27.92 3.60%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $325.82 3.27%
Visa Inc. (V) $219.40 2.30%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $53.45 2.00%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $119.09 1.91%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $161.63 1.84%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $153.01 1.69%