Stocks Open Higher, Shrug Off Shutdown

U.S. stocks began higher on Tuesday, as Wall Street weighed the consequences of the government’s first limited closure in 17 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 26.91 points, or 0.18%, to 15,156.58. The S&P
500 index added 6.59 points, or 0.39%, to 1,688.14. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 18.89 points, or 0.50%, to 3,790.37.

The U.S. government began a partial shutdown on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years, potentially putting up to 1 million workers on unpaid leave, closing national parks and stalling medical research projects.

Amazon.com says it is hiring 70,000 full-time seasonal workers around the U.S. to fill orders during the holiday season. Seasonal employees at Amazon.com Inc. order fulfillment centers are eligible for health care benefits and, on average, earn 94 percent of the wages of regular employees.

Chrysler’s U.S. sales rose 1 percent in September on strong performances from the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram pickup truck. Chrysler said it sold 143,000 cars and trucks last month to post its 42nd-straight month of sales gains.

Wells Fargo & Co said it will pay $780 million in cash to Freddie Mac to resolve substantially all repurchase liabilities on home loans sold to the government-controlled mortgage company prior to 2009.

An offer by Google to modify how it displays Internet search results could settle a long-running antitrust dispute with the European Union, the EU competition chief said on Tuesday.

Walgreen Co. (WAG) reported its fourth-quarter profit rose to $657 million, or 69 cents a share, from $353 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier.Revenue rose to $17.9 billion, from $17.1 billion a year earlier, while same- store sales increased by 4.6%.