Stocks shook off some early weakness and turned tentatively higher Wednesday, led by gains in store operators and other retailers.
Retailers had been beaten down in recent days over concerns that soaring inflation was eating into their profits. Some of those concerns dissipated after the high-end department store operator Nordstrom reported higher sales and raised its profit forecast. It’s stock jumped 12.5%.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% as of 11:03 a.m. Eastern . A modest turn higher in the volatile technology sector helped push the Nasdaq up 1%, erasing its loss for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115 points, or 0.4%, to 32,042.
