NEW YORK: US stocks traded higher on Monday as investors were buoyed by last week's EU deal to bail Greece out of its debt crisis and on fresh US income data, which contained no negative surprises. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 50.26 points (0.46 per cent) to 10,900.62 by midday in New York. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite climbed 16.05 points (0.67 per cent) to 2,411.18 while the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index added 6.87 points (0.59 per cent) to 1,173.46. "Sentiment improves around the globe following the European Union's announcement last week it would support Greece," analysts at Moody's Economy.com told clients.
Before the stock market opened, the US Commerce Department reported that consumer spending and income remained sluggish in February, but largely in line with expectations. Consumer spending rose 0.3 per cent in February from 0.4 per cent the previous month while personal income was flat in February following an upwardly revised 0.3 per cent growth in January, the department said. "February Personal Income and Spending report didn't produce a lot of surprises," Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com That was enough for investors to sound upbeat. "Overall, real consumer spending is on track to rise just above three per cent in the first quarter, which would be the strongest increase in three years, and much better than the fourth quarter's 1.6 per cent," IHS Global Insight's chief economist Nigel Gault said. -- AFP