China growth data lifts US stocks

US stocks rose as markets opened Wednesday, propelled by upbeat economic data from China which indicated that growth was still robust in the world's second-largest economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 72.69 points (0.58 percent) to 12,519.57 in the first 20 minutes of trading. The broader S&P 500 was up 7.10 points (0.54 percent) to 1,320.74, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 21.21 points (0.76 percent) to stand at 2,804.27. Investors were heartened after Beijing reported that China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9.5 percent in the second quarter, beating analysts' expectations and sending shares higher on Asian and European exchanges. The news from China briefly dispelled concerns about the widening eurozone debt crisis, which had pushed down US stocks for the two prior days. "The US equity markets are higher in early trading as fears about a hard landing in China are being soothed by a stronger-than-forecasted read on 2Q GDP," analysts from Charles Schwab wrote in a market commentary. The data from Beijing suggested that "aggressive monetary policy tightening is not hampering Chinese growth and boosting optimism about the global economy," they added. Separately, Wall Street was awaiting comments by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who was scheduled to testify before Congress at 1400 GMT, for hints of his thinking about a new round of monetary stimulus. US stocks enjoyed a brief rally on Tuesday after the Fed released minutes from its June policy-setting meeting which indicated that some Fed officials were considering further stimulus to prop up the flagging recovery. News Corp. shares gained 1.8 percent on the Nasdaq after Rupert Murdoch's media empire said it was abandoning its bid for British satellite broadcaster BSkyB as a newspaper phone-hacking scandal roiled the company. Shares of medical-technology maker Kinetic surged 5.4 percent after the company agreed to be acquired by a group of investment funds in a deal valued at $6.3 billion, including debt. Bond prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.92 percent from 2.90 percent late Tuesday, while that on the 30-year bond increased to 4.20 percent from 4.19 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.