Stocks Opened Higher, Led by Energy and Health Care

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, led by gains in the energy and health-care sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 36.58 point, or 0.22%, to 16,597.12. The S&P 500 gained 6.15 points, or 0.32%, to 1,939.90. The Nasdaq Composite was up 18.06 points, or 0.41%, to 4,407.31.

Consumers remained cautious in their spending last month, generating no growth in retail sales.The Commerce Department said Wednesday retail sales were virtually unchanged from June, ending five months of increases that have been getting smaller since March. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales rose 0.1%, Commerce said.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +3.35% launched a new mobile payment service for localbusinesses to accept credit and debit card transactions from a smartphone or tablet.

Macy’s Inc. on Wednesday reported a 4 percent profit increase in its fiscal second quarter as
business rebounded from slow sales earlier in the year. Macy’s said its second-quarter net income increased to $292 million, or 80 cents per share, from $281 million, or 72 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Deere & Co on Wednesday posted a lower quarterly profit and cut its full-year forecast. For the most recent quarter ended July 31, Deere reported a net profit of $850.7 million, or $2.33 a share, for the third quarter ended July 31, compared with $996.5 million, or $2.56 a share, a year earlier. Sales fell 5 percent to $9.5 billion. It now expected to earn $3.1 billion in fiscal 2014, down from its previous forecast of $3.3 billion.