US open: Shares boosted by economic data

The main US stockmarket benchmarks edged higher at the start of trading on the back of generally better than expected economic data.

As of 1521 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading higher by 0.12% or 24.09 points to 20,528.31, the S&P 500 was off by 0.03% or 0.66 points at 2,336.89 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead by 0.05% or 3.32 points to 5,785.91.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were drifting lower by 0.09% to $53.15 a barrel and Brent crude off 0.23% at $55.78.

In parallel, traders were keeping an eye on US Fed chair Janet Yellen's testimony before the US House of Representatives Financial Services committee, although she was not expected to diverge from remarks the previous day before the Senate.

Aside from Yellen’s speech, total US retail sales volumes grew more by a stronger than expected 0.4% over the month (consensus: 0.1%).

The Empire State Fed's regional manufacturing sector gauge also rose past forecasts in February to a level of 18.7, which was well ahead of the prior month's reading of 6.5 (consensus: 7.0).

Industrial production on the other hand declined by 0.3% over the month in January (consensus: 0.1%).

In parallel, the degree of capacity utilisation ran at 75.3% in January (consensus: 75.6%), down from 75.5% in the month before.

On the corporate front, US drinks and snacks maker PepsiCo was boosted by its shift in focus towards so-called "guilt free" products, after it surpassed analysts' expectations in its quarterly financial report.

The company posted earnings per share of $1.20 during the fourth quarter, excluding special items, just higher than the $1.16 forecast by experts.

Elsewhere, Fortress Investment Group was on traders' screen as well after Japan’s SoftBank agreed to buy the asset manager for $3.3bn.

Hilton Worldwide was also active after it posted a 2.2% jump in quarterly revenues.