NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are higher in early trading on Wall Street as investors weigh the impact of rising oil prices against some positive economic news, including a strong report on private job growth. Payroll processor ADP says private companies added 217,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis from January to February, well above the 180,000 new jobs that analysts had predicted.
UNDATED (AP) — Oil prices have risen to $100 a barrel amid the unrest in Libya and an unexpected drop in U.S. crude and gasoline supplies. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for April delivery was up 43 cents at $100.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
NEW YORK (AP) — New figures show retail sales rose last month in categories ranging from clothing to furniture, despite winter storms and rising gas prices. MasterCard Advisors’ Spending Pulse, which tracks spending in all forms including cash, show clothing sales rose 6 percent and furniture sales rose 4 percent. It was the fourth consecutive monthly increase for furniture sales, one of the hardest-hit categories during the recession.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the U.S. economy is improving and doesn’t need as much government help as it’s currently getting. The Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO tells CNBC that most of the businesses his company owns, except the ones that make housing-related products, continue to improve despite the fluctuations in public sentiment about the economy.