Wall St. opens higher after two days of losses

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday as data suggested that the economy was not rebounding strongly enough for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates before September.

U.S. retail sales were unchanged in April as households cut back on purchases of automobiles and other big-ticket items.

Import prices fell for a 10th straight month in April, while weekly applications for home mortgages were down as interest rates rose to the highest level since March.

"The data puts into question the Fed's notion that the weak first-quarter data was transitory," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.

The Fed has said it will raise rates only when data points to a strengthening economy. Growth in the first-quarter slowed to a crawl as a strong dollar, harsh winter and a steep fall in oil prices hurt profits and discouraged consumers from spending.

Seven of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, led by the technology index <.SPLRCT>, which rose 0.9 percent.

Microsoft's shares rose 1.4 percent to $127.09, providing the biggest boost to the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 indexes. Deutsche Bank raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from "hold".

The materials index <.SPLRCM> was the biggest loser, with DuPont being the biggest drag. Shares of the chemical maker slid 6.5 percent to $69.95.

At 10:01 a.m. ET (1401 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 24.62 points, or 0.14 percent, at 18,092.85, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was up 6.03 points, or 0.29 percent, at 2,105.15 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was up 23.00 points, or 0.46 percent, at 4,999.18.

U.S. stocks closed down for the second straight day on Tuesday amid a global bond rout.

Macy's fell 2.3 percent to $63.81, while Ralph Lauren was down 1.8 percent at $130.66 after results.

Shares of pipeline company Williams Partners LP jumped 22 percent to $57.87 after Williams Cos said it would buy its affiliate for about $13.8 billion.

Owens-Illinois rose 9.3 percent to $26.01 after the glass container maker said it would buy the food and beverage glass container business of Mexico's Vitro SAB de CV for $2.15 billion.

Delta Airlines rose 2.5 percent to $47.28 after it announced a $5 billion buyback program and raised its quarterly dividend to 13.5 cents per share from 9 cents, while Dow component American Express rose 0.9 percent to $79.82 after it hiked its dividend by 12 percent.

Earnings expected before the close include Shake Shack , J.C. Penney and Cisco .

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,904 to 863, for a 2.21-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,394 issues rose and 967 fell for a 1.44-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 index posted 12 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 35 new highs and 11 new lows.

(Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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