Stocks are rallying
Shortly after the open, the Dow gained up to 100 points, the S&P 500 was up 15 points, and the Nasdaq was up 37 points - all by less than 1%.
Stocks surged Tuesday at the end of the long weekend in US markets, with the Dow closing up 222 points (1.6%). If stocks end the day higher, it would be the first time they close up three days in a row this year.
As Myles Udland noted, the rally in the last two days came as short sellers scrambled to cover their positions.
On Tuesday, crude oil fell amid doubts that a production freeze agreement would lessen the supply glut.
But on Wednesday morning, West Texas Intermediate crude futures in New York were up more than 3%, or about $1 per barrel, to $30.16 per barrel.
Notable stocks moving on Wednesday morning included Priceline Group, which surged as much as 11% after better-than-forecast earnings. Shares of Garmin were also sharply up after earnings, while Campbell Soup rallied after projecting second-quarter profits that beat estimates.
Kinder Morgan shares were higher after Berkshire Hathaway disclosed in a filing yesterday that it owned nearly 27 million shares as of December 31.
In economic data, the pace of housing starts slowed in January, by 3.8% to an annualized pace of 1.099 million. Building permits fell 0.2% to an annualized pace of 1.202 million, less than expected.
But the producer price index was better than expected, rising 0.1% amid higher vegetable and beef prices, and increasing 0.4% excluding food and energy costs.
Industrial production and capacity utilization data were also solid, with production rising 0.9%.
At 2 p.m. ET, we'll get minutes from the January FOMC minutes.
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