Investing.com – Stocks opened higher on Wednesday as Boeing (NYSE:BA) tried to recover from a two-day slump of 11% after countries around the world grounded the airplane maker’s 737 Max 8 over safety concerns.
Boeing rose 0.5% even as the bans remained in place, while the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority stuck to its prior statements that the model is safe.
The S&P 500 rose 13 points or 0.48% as of 9:54 AM ET (14:54 GMT), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 45 points, or 0.60%, while the Dow recovered 107 points or 0.42%.
The market was also supported by fresh data that makes the case for the Federal Reserve to extend its pause on rate hikes. Producer prices were subdued in February, data from the Labor Department showed.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) rose 0.15% on news that it is expanding into new geographical markets in the U.S., in a move that seems aimed at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). BoA rose 0.85% all the same.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumped 1.33% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the luxury car maker is unveiling an SUV model on Thursday night. Analysts at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) had earlier reiterated their Sell recommendation on the stock, according to CNBC.
Elsewhere, Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) fell 0.2% after a downgrade from HSBC, while IBM (NYSE:IBM) slipped 0.08%.
In commodities, gold futures gained 0.7% to $1,308.35 a troy ounce while crude oil rose 1.6% to a four-month high of $57.77 a barrel, amid signs that Russia is falling into line with its commitments to OPEC on restraining supplies. The U.S. government has meanwhile revised down its forecast for U.S. output this year. And prices gained further support from a fiery speech Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterating the administration's desire to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.2% to 96.697.