NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are higher in early trading after the government's better-than-expected consumer price report eased some concerns about inflation.
The Labor Department's report that consumer prices advanced 0.2 percent in April after rising 0.3 percent in March appeared to alleviate Wall Street's worries of a big spike in prices due to the recent surge in energy costs. The decline in prices comes despite the largest jump in food prices in 18 years.
Wall Street has been concerned that higher food and energy costs are cutting into consumers' ability to spend. Any pullback is an unnerving prospect for investors because consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 72.95, or 0.57 percent, to 12,905.13.
Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.26, or 0.66 percent, to 1,412.30, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 14.93, or 0.60 percent, to 2,510.05.
Light, sweet crude oil fell $1.20 to $124.60 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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