New York, May 16, 2018 (AFP)
Wall Street opened in positive territory Wednesday despite interest rate jitters and continued geopolitical unease, on upbeat data about US industry.
The positive open followed Tuesday's tumble sparked by rising bond yields and fears trade disputes could deepen between Washington, Brussels, Beijing Ottawa and Mexico City.
North Korea has also said it could back out of a June summit with US President Donald Trump.
About 30 minutes into the trading day, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a little more than a tenth of a percentage point at 24,739.37
The broader S&P 500 gained more than 0.2 percent to 2,718.03, while the tech- and pharmaceutical-heavy Nasdaq rose close to 0.4 percent to 7,379.24 respectively.
"Understandably, those headlines, along with rising rates, helped rein in some of the bullish enthusiasm seen of late," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com
"Still, one was left to wonder if Tuesday's pullback would have happened anyway if those factors weren't part of the equation."
New data showed industrial production jumped 0.7 percent in April, and while it in part was spurred by cold weather that drove utility output higher, manufacturing and mining also put in a solid performance.
However, the cold weather that helped industry also put a damper on homebuilding, particularly of apartments, which slowed in April, falling 3.7 percent.
In individual stocks, department store chain Macy's rose soared 8.8 percent after beating expectations for same-store sales.
Industrial conglomerate 3M fell more than one percent after Jefferies downgraded the company to "hold" and cut price target on fears the company is vulnerable to inflation.
Swiss drug maker Novartis gained 0.7 percent after announcing that General Counsel Felix Erhat would retire following revelations the company paid President Donald Trump's personal attorney.
Coffee chain Starbucks rose 0.9 percent on plans for faster store growth in China.

Sumber : AFP