Stocks Move Higher in the Early Trading

U.S. stocks moved slightly higher in the early trading on Tuesday as investors digested inflation data, as well as news of a snap election in Japan and better-than-expected data from Germany. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 44.28 points, or 0.25%, to 17,692.03. The S&P 500 was up 7.87 points, or 0.39%, to 2,049.19. The Nasdaq Composite gained 27.14 points, or 0.58%, to 4,698.14.

Inflation picked up in October due to higher prices that U.S. companies received for new model cars, beef, pork, pharmaceuticals and electric power. The producer price index increased 0.2 percent in October from the previous month, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s twin decisions to delay an unpopular sales tax increase and call a snap election were not quite the bolt from the blue they first appeared.

A measure of German economic confidence improved for the first time in nearly a year. The ZEW lead expectations indicator was 11.5 in November, after -3.6 in October. It strongly beat economists’ expectations of a rise to 0.9 in a Dow Jones survey of analysts.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS) said Tuesday it had net income of $49.2 million, or 41 cents a share, in the third quarter, down from $50 million, or 40 cents a share in the year-earlier period, dragged down by continued weakness in golf and hunting. Sales rose 9% to $1.5 billion.

Home Depot Inc. said its sales rose 5.4% in the most recent period, driven by growth in transactions and ticket size.The results exceeded analysts’ expectations. For the period ended Nov. 2, Home Depot said its profit was $1.54 billion, or $1.15 a share, up from $1.35 billion, or 95 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 5.4% to $20.52 billion.

Zoetis Inc., the animal-health products maker at the center of the latest round of pharmaceutical deal talk, said Tuesday that its board has approved a $500 million share-buyback program.