Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday, supported by the release of upbeat U.S. retail sales data, after comments by Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart sent U.S. equities broadly lower on Monday.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.25%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.30%, while the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 0.48%.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, beating expectations for a 0.1% increase. Retail sales for November were revised down to a 0.4% gain from a previously reported increase of 0.7%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, edged up 0.7% last month, above forecasts for a 0.4% increase. Core sales rose by 0.1% in November.
U.S. equities were hit on Monday after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said that the U.S. central bank should push ahead with its efforts to wind down monetary stimulus.
Financial stocks were in focus, as Wells Fargo reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings but said revenue figures trailed forecasts, sending shares down 1.01%.
JPMorgan Chase rallied 1.30% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue. The lender was recently in the spotlight after having to pay penalties for not reporting suspicions of fraud by Bernie Madoff.
Among tech stocks, Juniper Networks rose 0.39%, after Bloomberg reported that the maker of computer-networking equipment was being targeted by activist hedge fund Elliott Management.
Separately, Google gained 0.68% after saying it would purchase digital-thermostat manufacturer Nest Labs for USD3.2 billion.
In the pharmaceutical sector, Merck & Co. tumbled 1% even though a preliminary review posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's web site on Monday cited "robustly positive" clinical trial results for the U.S. drugmaker and said its blood clot-preventing drug vorapaxar should be approved.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 slipped 0.16%, France’s CAC 40 edged down 0.19%, Germany's DAX fell 0.27%, while Britain's FTSE 100 dipped 0.01%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.43%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged 3.08%.