US stocks open higher with rise in retail sales

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks opened higher Tuesday, trying to recover from the previous session's losses with a strong increase in retail sales.

The Dow Jones was up 128 points, or 0.36%, to 36,216 at 9.37 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 rose 12 points, or 0.27%, to 4,695.

The Nasdaq increased 36, or 0.23%, to 15,890.

Despite the indices' gains, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was up 1% to 16.65. The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 0.14% to 1.623%.

The US dollar index was up 0.34% to 95.73 at the time.

Oil prices were down with international benchmark Brent crude falling 0.13% to $81.94 per barrel. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate declined 0.4% to $79.42 a barrel.

Despite earlier gains, precious metals were flat with gold at $1,862 per ounce and silver at $25.06.

After plummeting to as low as $58,574 at 5 a.m., losing 7.8% from its previous close, Bitcoin was trading at $61,100 -- a 6.2% loss.

US retail sales showed a strong increase of 1.7% in October, from the previous month, beating the market expectation of a 1.2% gain.