NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are higher as hopes grow that the European Union will help Greece with its growing debt burden.
Investors are shrugging off a steep drop in wholesale inventories. The Commerce Department says Tuesday that businesses cut wholesale inventories 0.8 percent in December. Economists expected a gain of 1 percent.
Concern about rising debt loads have pounded stocks for weeks and on Monday pushed the Dow Jones industrials to close below 10,000 for the first time in three months.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 143 at 10,051. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 13 at 1,070, while the Nasdaq composite index is up 24 at 2,150.
