Stocks have moved to the upside in early trading on Wednesday, benefiting from a positive reaction to the latest news out of Europe. The major averages have moved moderately higher, adding to the gains posted in the previous session.
The early strength on Wall Street comes on the heels of news that Germany's Federal Constitutional Court cleared the way for the ratification of the European Stability Mechanism, or ESM, rejecting temporary injunctions against the European bailout fund.
Buying interest has remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Thursday. Uncertainty about whether the central bank will announce another round of quantitative easing is keeping some traders on the sidelines.
Nonetheless, networking stocks have shown a strong upward move in early trading, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.6 percent. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has helped to lead the sector higher, surging up by 4.3 percent.
Airline, housing, and steel stocks are also seeing notable strength, moving to the upside along with most of the major sectors.
The major averages have pulled back off their highs for the young session in the past few minutes but are holding on to gains. The Dow is up 44.82 points or 0.3 percent at 13,368.18, the Nasdaq is up 12.05 points or 0.4 percent at 3,116.58 and the S&P 500 is up 5.35 points or 0.4 percent at 1,438.91.
by RTT Staff Writer
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