Wall Street steadies after falling 86 points

NEW YORK: US stocks steadied Wednesday after hefty falls caused the Dow to erase all of its gains of 2006 in the previous session.

In early trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 49.70 points (0.46 percent) at 10,755.84, after slumping more than 86 points on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq composite advanced 9.71 points (0.47 percent) to 2,082.18.

The broader Standard and Poor's 500 index stood at 1,226.95, up 3.26 points (0.27 percent).

The rises came despite news that US consumer inflation sped up in May, which cemented expectations of another hike in interest rates when the Federal Reserve meets this month.   

Briefing.com analysts said, "there's no denying that inflation is still at the high end of what (Fed) policymakers deem desirable".

But they added that "some notable analyst upgrades ...  are currently acting as an offset", citing investment banks' upgrades for shares in Boeing, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Applied Materials.

AG Edwards equity analyst Al Goldman said: "The key today will be whether the bulls can sustain buying."

Boeing Co. was a notable beneficiary in early trade. The aviation giant's shares jumped 3.61 percent to 79.76 dollars after the company secured an order for twenty 787 passenger planes from Singapore Airlines worth $4.5 billion.