US stocks advance on modest retail sales gain

Wall Street stocks rose early Tuesday following a report showing modestly higher US retail sales in August.

About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 16,418.49, up 47.53 points (0.29 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 4.73 (0.24 percent) to 1,957.76, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.86 (0.27 percent) to 4,818.62.

US retail sales rose 0.2 percent in August, boosted by robust auto sales, but slightly below analysts' consensus estimate.

The retail sales report was one of the few remaining US data points ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting that begins Wednesday. Speculation is divided over whether the Fed will deem the economy strong enough to withstand the first rate hike since 2006.

"Trading volume will likely be on the light side again today as participants adopt a guarded approach ahead of Thursday's rate hike decision," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Aluminum giant Alcoa gained 2.5 percent and Ford rose 0.9 percent after the two companies they will collaborate to develop new aluminum alloy technology for the auto industry.

Fast-food chain Sonic tumbled 8.0 percent as it announced that same-store sales for the fourth-quarter increased 4.9 percent, below the 5.0 percent projected by analysts.

Petroleum-linked stocks rose with higher oil prices. Dow member Chevron gained 1.7 percent, oil-services company Weatherford International rose 2.7 percent and Marathon Oil advanced 0.7 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.21 percent from 2.19 percent Monday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.99 percent from 2.95 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.