August 13, 2014- Stocks See Modest Move to Upside

Stocks have moved moderately higher in early trading on Wednesday, offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages moved to the upside at the open but have not seen much follow-through on the initial upward move. Recently, the major averages have pulled back off their highs for the young session, but they are holding on to modest gains. The Dow is up 38.98 points or 0.2 percent at 16,599.52, the Nasdaq is up 17.80 points or 0.4 percent at 4,407.05 and the S&P 500 is up 6.60 points or 0.3 percent at 1,940.35. The early strength on Wall Street comes on the heel of the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly came in unchanged in the month of July. The Commerce Department said retail sales were virtually unchanged in July after edging up by 0.2 percent in June. Economists had been expecting another 0.2 percent increase.