US stocks creep higher in opening trade
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NEW YORK, Nov 21 AFP
November 22 2012, 02:15AM
US stocks have opened slightly higher as Wall Street awaited a batch of economic data and weighed another eurozone failure to agree on a crucial aid payment for Greece.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8.34 points (0.07 per cent) at 12,796.85 in the first five minutes of trade.
The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 1.39 (0.10 per cent) to 1389.20, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 7.13 (0.24 per cent) at 2923.81.
"Today is the last full trading day of the week as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, but the market has a slew of economic reports to digest this morning. These include jobless claims, consumer sentiment, as well as leading indicators for November," said Karee Venema at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Trade volume was expected to be light ahead of US market closures on Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Markets will be opened on Friday for a shortened session.
Charles Schwab & Co analysts said stocks were under modest pressure amid US fiscal cliff uncertainty and the failure of eurozone leaders to agree on Greece's fiscal plan and the payment of the next instalment of bailout aid.
Stocks closed near breakeven on Tuesday after Dow member Hewlett-Packard reported a huge charge for a soured acquisition and the government released upbeat housing market data.
