U.S. Stocks Rally After Retail Sales Increase, Citigroup Profit

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U.S. stocks rebounded from the worst weekly losses in two years after data showed retail sales increased the most since 2012 and Citigroup Inc. earnings unexpectedly rose.

Citigroup advanced 4.2 percent as the company recouped funds previously set aside for bad loans and cut losses at a division holding unwanted assets.

The Standard & Poor™s 500 Index rose 0.6 percent to 1,827.10 at 9:30 a.m. in New York. The U.S. equity benchmark slid 2.6 percent last week, the biggest drop since June 2012. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 100.25 points, or 0.6 percent, to 16,127 today. The Nasdaq Composite Index and Russell 2000 Index climbed 1 percent.

Retail sales increased in March as Americans bought more cars, clothing and garden supplies, helping the economy recover from a weather-depressed start to the year. The 1.1 percent advance exceeded the median projection in a Bloomberg survey and followed a 0.7 percent gain in February that was bigger than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed.

Copy Source : Bloomberg