Stocks Open Higher; Pfizer 3Q Profit Beats Estimates

U.S. stocks rose modestly at the open on Tuesday, as investors taking in quarterly earnings and a raft of economic reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 49.90 points, or 0.32%, to 15,618.83. The S&P 500 gained 5.10 points, or 0.29%, to 1,767.21, The Nasdaq Composite added 11.20 points, or 0.28%, to 3,951.33.

The Commerce Department says retail sales dipped 0.1 percent, the weakest showing since March. Auto sales fell 2.2 percent, the largest decline since October 2012. But the drop was largely because the sales calendar pulled Labor Day weekend activity into August, the automakers have said. That means the drop is likely temporary.
The U.S. House of Representatives has rediscovered the formula for peace, harmony and an end to gridlock after a month of partisan warfare: $8 billion worth of harbor dredging, dam and lock construction and other federal waterway improvements.

Apple Inc. reported its third consecutive quarter of earnings declines on Monday afternoon, though a pop in iPhone sales with the launch of new devices helped revenues come in higher than Wall
Street had expected for the company’s fourth fiscal quarter.

As a means to counter what has been an outcry over the amount of money Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) makes, the world’s largest retailer will promote 25,000 people this quarter. Walmart claims this will bring total promotions to 160,000 in 2013.

Pfizer Inc (PFE) reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, helped by costs cuts and growing sales of recently approved cancer medicines. It earned $2.59 billion, or 39 cents per share in the quarter. That compared with $3.21 billion, or 43 cents per share, in the year- earlier period.