U.S. stocks open higher despite retail sales

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday despite disappointing retail sales report.

U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday that the advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for April were 436.8 billion U.S. dollars, virtually unchanged from the previous month, below expectations of a 0.5 percent gain.

U.S. import prices declined 0.3 percent in April, after decreasing 0.2 percent in March and 0.4 percent in February, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.

In corporate news, before the opening bell, Macy' s reported earnings of 56 cents per diluted share for the first quarter of 2015, the 13-week period ended May 2, 2015, compared with earnings of 60 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2014, missing expectations.

Ralph Lauren posted fourth quarter net revenue of 1.9 billion dollars. The fashion retailers' quarterly earnings per diluted share were 1.41 dollars, in line with the prior year excluding foreign currency impacts.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.15 points, or 0.29 percent, to 18,120.38. The S&P 500 was up 9.47 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,108.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 32.23 points, or 0.65 percent, to 5,008.42.

U.S. stocks reversed part of early losses to close modestly lower on Tuesday, as investors were pondering over impacts of the Greek debt crisis. Endi