New York - US stocks moved higher in early trading on Wednesday, extending their gains into a third day. Investors welcomed solid earnings from Yahoo as well as some encouraging news about China's economy and US factory production.
KEEPING SCORE
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,853 in the first 45 minutes of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 100 points, or 0.6 percent, to 16,363. The Nasdaq added 25 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,059. All three indexes are up for the week but are still down for the month.
YAHOO FOR ASIA
Yahoo jumped $2.44, or 7.1 percent, to $36.64 in early trading. The Internet pioneer reported late Tuesday that it is making most of its money from its stakes in two Asian Internet companies, China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. That overshadowed a 20 percent drop in first-quarter earnings.
CHINESE GROWTH
The world's second-largest economy grew 7.4 percent from a year earlier in the January-March quarter, down from the previous quarter's 7.7 percent, China's government reported. The growth rate appeared strong enough to satisfy Chinese leaders who are trying to put the country on a more sustainable path without politically dangerous job losses.
FACTORIES HUMMING
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that factory production rose 0.5 percent in March after a revised 1.4 percent surge in February. The gains over the past two months point to a rebound after a winter slowdown in January and December stalled growth across the economy, and are a sign of greater demand by businesses and consumers.
OVERSEAS
In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.1 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent. The Nikkei 225
index jumped 3 percent.
BONDS
In US government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.65 percent after ending at 2.63 percent late Tuesday.
Sapa-AP