U.S. stocks finished higher Wednesday after the Department of Commerce reported that retail sales were stronger than anticipated in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.11% closed 0.1% higher, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.28% rose 0.3% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.92% climbed 0.9%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. Retail sales in the U.S. climbed 3% last month, a report Wednesday from the Commerce Department shows. That was the biggest increase in U.S. retail sales in almost two years, and above the 1.9% rise forecast by economists polled by the Wall Street Journal.
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