Stocks opened higher today thanks to a gain in retail sales last month and better than expected earnings from Citigroup. Retail sales jumped 1.1% in September according to the Commerce Department. Not all economic news was good though after a measurement of manufacturing in New York fell to -6.16, the third straight month of contraction. Economists were expecting a reading of -4.55.

Citigroup saw its profit fall in the third quarter, but still posted earnings that beat expectations. The bank reported earnings of $1.06 per share and revenue of $19.4 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.96 a share with $18.71 billion in revenue.

The major stock averages are barely positive this morning with the Dow up 3 points, the Nasdaq up 2 points and the S&P 500 up 1 point. [Read more...]