NEW YORK -- Stocks rose slightly in early trading ahead of a report on factory orders that could give another glimpse of how the economy is faring.
The Commerce Department is expected to report that factory orders slowed in May due to shrinking demand. The report, due at 10 a.m. Eastern time, is expected to show that orders rose by 0.6 percent, according to a consensus of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Financial.
The concern in the market is that slowing orders will provide further evidence that higher energy prices are eroding consumer demand for discretionary items — everything from big screen televisions to clothing. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy.
Oil ticked higher. A barrel of light sweet crude rose 9 cents to $141.06 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid concerns about tight supply and tensions in the Middle East.
The Energy Department releases it weekly report on oil and fuel inventories later Wednesday morning; the report generally causes some volatility in oil trading.
In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.27, or 0.18 percent, to 11,402.53.
Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.09, or 0.40 percent, to 1,290.00, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 7.17, or 0.31 percent, to 2,312.14.
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