Stocks lifted at open

Techs pace early advance as investors cheer economic reports, await new home sales.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks gained ground in early Thursday trading as investors cheered some economic reports and awaited key data on new home sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was 0.5 percent higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 0.3 percent.

Among stocks in the news Thursday: Sallie Mae (Charts, Fortune 500), KB Home (Charts, Fortune 500), Wal-Mart Stores (Charts, Fortune 500), Verizon Communications (Charts, Fortune 500), Bed Bath & Beyond (Charts, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch (Charts, Fortune 500). Top of page

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Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.