Wall Street opens higher after Fed minutes, jobs data

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.58 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 17,740.74. At about 12.52pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index eked out a 0.01 percent gain while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq composite climbed 27 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,100.

The S&P advanced 66.13 points, or 3.3 percent.

RETAIL RELIEF: Retail stocks were pummeled this month after weak reports from Macy’s and Nordstrom caused investors to worry that the holiday shopping season would be a bust.

UnitedHealth’s tumble followed its announcement early Thursday that it might withdraw from offering coverage through Obamacare because that business hasn’t been as profitable as the company expected, the company said.

But those fears are fading.

POWERING UP: Tech stocks traded higher.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rose 2.36 percent after Reuters reported that the company was planning to launch the Chinese version of its Google Play smartphone app next year. They are on pace for their biggest gain in a month.

In corporate news, shares of Apple jumped 3.17 percent to $117.29 apiece on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs issued a bullish note on the iPhone maker. Investors are also awaiting the release later today of the Federal Reserve’s October meeting minutes, a meeting that revealed a slightly widening gap between doves and hawks.

“There is a presumption that the minutes will reveal a budding preference among voters to raise the target range for the federal funds rate at the December 15-16 meeting”, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

“The meeting took place prior to this month’s bumper jobs report, which highlights that, barring an absolute shocker in December, Janet Yellen and the Fed can achieve the 2015 hike they seek”. Dow component Nike (NKE) also has had a big hand in the sector advance after announcing a $12 billion stock buyback program.

Sprint (S.N) tumbled 5.43 percent after the wireless carrier said it would raise about $1.1 billion in cash through a sale and lease-back deal with a company backed by Japan’s SoftBank. On Semiconductor fell 7.8 percent to $9.90.

METALS: Metals prices continued to slide. On the Nasdaq, 1,665 issues rose and 577 fell.

Healthcare rose 0.8 percent, led by Allergan’s 3.3 percent increase. The blue-chips gauge was hamstrung by UnitedHealth’s 5.7% decline, which shaved 44 points from the average.

Global markets rose Thursday as jitters from the attacks in Paris dissipated. December gold was 70 cents lower at $1,077.20 per ounce and December silver was down 11 cents to $14.11 per ounce. “Currencies are particularly sensitive to this divergence pressure and, despite the strength we have seen so far, we believe the dollar has more room to appreciate versus the euro and yen”.