Wall Street today: US stocks edge higher after strong retail sales data, robust earnings

US stocks edged higher on Tuesday after strong retail sales data and on hopes for a interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.

At 9:56 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 388.12 points, or 0.97 per cent, at 40,599.84, the S&P 500 was up 20.10 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 5,651.32, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 33.73 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 18,506.29.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.06 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 40,263.78. The S&P 500 was higher by 12.87 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 5,644.09, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 61.70 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 18,534.27.

According to a commerce department report, retail sales were unchanged in June, while retail sales minus automobiles rose 0.4 per cent.

UnitedHealth Group stock rose 4.3 per cent after the health care company posted stronger quarterly results.

Bank of America shares gained 3.6 per cent after it reported stronger profit for the second quarter.

Morgan Stanley dropped 1.4 per cent after its wealth management revenue missed estimates for the second quarter.

Charles Schwab slumped 7 per centafter reporting lower Q2 net income.

Trump Media & Technology Group plunged 8.1 per cent, a day after jumping 31.4 per cent on increased bets over Donald Trump winning a second term in US presenditial election after he survived an assassination bid last week.

Among the megacaps, Nvidia edged down 1.6 per cent, while Amazon.com rose 1 per cent.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index jumped 2 per cent after strong buying in small company stocks.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.20 per cent from 4.23 per centlate on Monday.

Crude oil

Oil prices fell more than 1 per cent on Tuesday on worries of a slowing Chinese economy crimping demand.

Brent futures were down $1.31, or 1.54 per cent, to $83.54 a barrel at 1317 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $1.41, or 1.72 per cent, to $80.50.

Bullion

Gold prices were near record high on Tuesday on expectations for Fed rate cuts.

Bullion rose to $2,444.06 an ounce, just $6 short of the previous record in late May.