NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks opened moderately higher Tuesday morning after the latest economic numbers came in mixed and failed to scare a market already rattled with the inflation jitters.

The Dow (Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index (Charts) both rose 0.2 percent.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (Charts) added 0.1 percent just after the open.

The latest read on the housing market showed housing starts came in stronger than expected, but building permits fell to the lowest rate since November 2003.

The Commerce Department said the pace of U.S. housing construction increased more than expected in May after three months of declines, but was not strong enough to stoke inflation fears, which have been weighing on stocks since mid May.

In corporate news, Target (Charts) said it expects June sales at stores open at least a year to be at the upper end of a forecasted range.

J.P. Morgan upgraded discount retailer Costco (Charts) to "overweight" from "neutral."

Apple (Charts) is in talks with major Hollywood studios to offer feature films on iTunes. Microsoft (Charts) is also reported to be in similar discussions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And Warner Music Group (Charts) has signed a distribution deal with China Unicom Ltd., China's second-largest mobile phone operator, to sell its music over the wireless network.

Treasury prices were flat, leaving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note unchanged at 5.13 percent. The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.

Oil prices rose 59 cents to $69.57 a barrel in electronic trading on the risk of a disruption to Iranian supplies.

Overseas, major markets closed mostly lower Monday in Asia, while major European markets also fell in early trade.