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Stocks shake up early loss, rise on Wall Street



NEW YORK — Stocks weathered some early weakness and temporarily rose on Wednesday, led by gains at store operators and other retailers.

Retailers have been crushed in recent days by concerns that rising inflation is eating away at their profits. Some of these concerns dissipated after senior store operator Nordstrom reported higher sales and raised its profit forecast. Stocks rose 12.5%.

The S&P 500 was up 0.7% as of 11:03 a.m. East. A modest rise in the volatile tech sector helped the Nasdaq rise 1% and erased its weekly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115 points, or 0.4%, to 32,042.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury bill, which helps determine mortgage rates, fell to 2.74% from 2.76% late Tuesday.

Due to rising inflation and its impact on businesses and consumers, the broader market remains volatile as investors are nervous.

Investors are also concerned about the Federal Reserve’s aggressive plan to raise interest rates to combat inflation and hope the Fed won’t act so aggressively to slow the economy enough to cause a recession.

The Fed released the minutes of its most recent policy meeting on Wednesday, potentially offering more insight into the reasons behind its actions this year.

The S&P 500 gained ground on Monday, but fell again on Tuesday as losses in the tech sector increased. The S&P 500 is coming out of a seven-week streak.

European markets rose and Asian markets closed mostly higher.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February added even more pressure to already rising energy costs, making inflation worse for both businesses and consumers. Supply chains have tightened even more in the past month as China has quarantined several major cities to combat rising COVID-19 cases.

Despite grappling with ever-increasing inflation, many companies posted strong earnings after reporting solid financial results and giving investors strong forecasts.

TurboTax software maker Intuit rose 7.4% after raising its profit and revenue forecasts for the year. Caleres, owner of Celebrity Shoes, increased 27% after raising its profit forecast for the year.

Homebuilder Toll Brothers rose 6.6% after reporting strong profits just one day after the sector stumbled amid the disappointing government report on new build home sales.

Wendy’s rose 10.6% after Trian Fund Management, which already owns 19% of the company, said it was considering buying the rest of the company.





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