Stocks Opened Higher, Time Warner Jumped

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, buoyed by better-than-expected earnings and corporate news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average latey gained 37.32 points, or 0.22%, to 17,098.00. The S&P 500 was up 5.79 points, or 0.29%, to 1,979.07. The Nasdaq Composite added 22.12 points, or 0.50%, to 4,438.51.

Time Warner (TWX) has rejected an $80 billion formal offer from News Corp.’s (FOXA) 21st Century Fox, sources told CNBC Wednesday.The sources said that 21st Century Fox offered $85 a share in cash and stock for the media giant.

Bank of America Corp. said second-quarter profit slid 43% as the banking giant was again weighed down by large one-time legal charges and a slump in mortgage originations.It reported a profit of $2.29 billion, compared with $4.01 billion a year earlier. Revenue dropped 4.3% to $21.75 billion, topping analysts’ expectation of $21.61 billion.

Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in June to take the second-quarter rise to an annual rate of 5.5%, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

U.S. wholesale prices rose in June to more than overset a surprise drop in the prior month, as the cost of energy surged, the government said Wednesday. The producer price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in June after a 0.2% decline in May, the Labor Department said.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is losing smartphone ground not only to cheaper Chinese rivals but also at the high end to Apple Inc, a survey showed, in an ominous sign for the South Korean giant as Apple readies to launch its next-generation iPhone 6.