New York, April 14 (IANS) The US stocks traded higher in the morning session on Wednesday, after strong Chinese trade data and JPMorgan Chase's better-than-expected quarterly profit.
By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 154.88 points, or 0.87 percent, to 17,876.13. The S&P 500 rose 17.20 points, or 0.83 percent, to 2,078.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 64.35 points, or 1.32 percent, to 4,936.44, Xinhua news agency reported.
China's exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 18.7 percent year on year in March, the first increase since December, compared with a slump of 20.6 percent in February and a 6.6-percent fall in January, showed figures from the General Administration of Customs released on Wednesday.
Imports dipped 1.7 percent, an improvement from February's eight-percent drop.
China's stocks staged a rally on Wednesday as the trade data suggested stabilisation in China's economy.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase reported on Wednesday first-quarter 2016 net income of $5.5 billion, or $1.35 per share, on revenue of $24.1 billion. Its shares surged 4.54 percent at $61.97 per share around midday trading.
On the economic front, the advance estimates of the US retail and food services sales for March were $446.9 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent from the previous month, and 1.7 percent above March 2015, the US Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
The Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.1 percent in March, seasonally adjusted, the US Labour Department said on Wednesday. On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index moved down 0.1 percent for the 12 months ended in March.
