U.S. stocks opened Sharply higher on Monday after March retail sales topped expectations, bolstering confidence in the recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 108.27 points to 12,957.86. The S&P 500 Index added 6.53 points to 1,376.79. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 8.28 points to 3,019.61.
U.S. retail sales rose at a solid pace last month, as a healthier job market and warmer weather encouraged more consumers to shop. The Commerce Department said Monday that retail sales rose 0.8 percent in March. That’s below February’s 1 percent increase but above January’s pace.
Citigroup Inc’s first-quarter profit beat Wall Street estimates as expenses fell 7 percent from the 2011 fourth quarter. The New York-based lender said earnings per share, excluding the impact of certain accounting adjustments for changes in the value debts and credits, were $1.11. Net income, under generally accepted accounting principles, was $2.93 billion, or 95 cents a share, down from $2.99 billion, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue from the company’s ongoing securities trading and investment banking business declined 12 percent from the strong quarter a year earlier but rose 65 percent from the weak 2011 fourth quarter.
Spain’s debt yields broke above 6 percent on Monday as investors worried about its budget, knocking the euro and sending safe-haven German bonds to a record last set at the height of the euro zone crisis.
Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP said it is looking to raise between $701.5 million to $762.5 million in its initial public offering, valuing the company at as much as $7.61 billion, as it presses on with its plans to catch up with rivals Blackstone (NYS:BX), KKR (NYS:KKR) and Apollo (NYS:APO).
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