NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks rose Thursday morning after the biggest one-month drop in consumer prices since the late 1940's encouraged investors to trust that the Fed rate-hiking campaign could be ending soon.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) rose 0.3 percent, while the broader S&P 500 (Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (Charts) both added around 0.2 percent in the early going.

A drop in gasoline prices led to the largest overall decline in prices in 56 years in November, according to the government's key inflation measure released early Thursday, which showed inflationary pressure far less than Wall Street expectations.

The Consumer Price Index was down 0.6 percent in November, the biggest drop since July 1949. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a decline of 0.4 percent. Energy prices plunged 8 percent in the month, led by a 16 percent drop in gasoline prices.

But so-called "core CPI," which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent, the same gain as seen in October.

Stocks ended higher Wednesday after falling oil prices and a solid Honeywell outlook lifted the Dow.

Amgen (Research) announced after hours Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Abgenix (Research) for about $2.2 billion in cash, about a 54 percent premium from its closing price. Shares of the biotechnology company edged higher in after-hours trading as Abgenix shares soared to near the $22.50 a share purchase price.

Also after the bell Wednesday Microsoft (Research) said it would raise its quarterly dividend 12.5 percent, as the No. 1 software provider reiterated confidence in its growth prospects.

Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery fell 22 cents to $60.63 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices dipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.49 percent from 4.44 percent late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar fell versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold for February delivery fell $2.50 to $507 an ounce.

In global trade, major Asian markets ended higher with the exception of the Japanese Nikkei, which ended lower. European markets were mostly lower at midday.