NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks opened higher Tuesday following better than expected US retail sales as markets looked ahead to a likely Federal Reserve interest rate cut later in the week.

Overall retail sales were up 0.1 percent from July to August at $710.8 billion, better than the decline expected by analysts.

Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments said he would be “surprised” if the Federal Reserve on Wednesday opts for a 50 basis point interest rate cut, instead of the smaller 25 basis point cut.

US stocks open week in mixed fashion

But he said the market could still rally on Wednesday after the announcement depending on what the Fed signals about its outlook on monetary policy.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 percent at 41,766.46, adding to Monday’s all-time record.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent to 5,658.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.8 percent to 17,725.46.

Among individual companies, Microsoft climbed 2.2 percent after announcing a 10 percent dividend increase and an authorization of up to $60 billion in share repurchases.

Intel gained 2.3 percent after unveiling a plan with Amazon to produce AI fabric chip for Amazon Web Services, describing the initiative as an expansion of a long-term strategic collaboration.

Amazon rose two percent.