NEW YORK, May 16 — Wall Street stocks rose early today following solid US data and better-than-expected results from Dow members Cisco and Walmart.

About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8 per cent at 25,856.44.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.9 per cent to 2,877.03, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also climbed 0.9 per cent to 7890.28.

Stocks had also risen yesterday following reports that the Trump administration would hold off for six months on imposing tariffs on auto imports.

The afterglow from that and other more benign-sounding trade news again lifted stocks today, although "trading sentiment can change on a dime,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

US home construction data for April topped analyst expectations and jobless claims dipped from last week, according to data released today.

Analysts also pointed to better-than-expected profits from Dow members Cisco Systems and Walmart that lifted shares by 5.1 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively. — AFP