NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. stocks are climbing this morning, helped by government data signaling only mild inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 28 points to 13,280. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 is up two points to 1,405. The Nasdaq composite index is up one point to 3,058.
Investors this week have been encouraged by signs that the U.S. economy is healing, helped by encouraging reports about the unemplyment rate and retail sales. The Greek debt crisis, while far from solved, has briefly faded from the headlines.
High gas prices remain a concern. The Labor Department said they rose 6 percent in February. But other price increases were mild, with food prices unchanged for the first time in 19 months.
Apple, which releases the iPad 3 Friday, fell 1 percent.