NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are inching higher in early trading on Wall Street following a bumpy start to the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 16 points at 13,186 shortly after the opening bell Wednesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose almost two points to 1,407 and the Nasdaq composite rose seven to 3,080.
Hartford Financial jumped 6.5 percent after the company said it would get out of the annuity business and focus on property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds.
Business software maker Oracle Corp. rose 3.1 percent after reporting that sales of new software licenses accelerated in the third quarter, a positive sign for business spending and the broader economy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.34 percent from 2.36 percent late Tuesday.