Dow gets a lift from gains in industrials

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 100 points on Wednesday morning, powered by gains in industrial stocks such as GE, Boeing and Caterpillar.

Caterpillar rose about 1 percent after reporting higher monthly machine retail sales, while Boeing edged up 0.6 percent.

GE was slightly up after its quarterly results showed no new sizeable charges, even as the conglomerate reported a $10 billion loss on previously-announced charges for insurance losses and taxes.

"It came in slightly better than what the Street was fearing," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth in New York.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating a recent insurance charge made by GE, the company said.

United Technologies was up 0.21 percent and General Dynamics rose 1.4 percent following results.

The dollar fell 0.8 percent against a basket of currencies on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at the World Economic Forum that he welcomed the currency's weakness and on a strong start to the euro zone economy.

Worries about a protectionist stance have added to the dollar's woes after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped steep tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels on Monday.

"I think it helps the stock market. When you have a pick-up in global economic activity with leading suppliers here in the United States whose sales are being helped along by a weaker dollar, you probably be buying from companies here," said Pavlik.

Earnings growth for S&P 500 companies for the fourth-quarter is expected at 12.4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

At 9:35 a.m. ET (1435 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 106.93 points, or 0.41 percent, at 26,317.74.

The S&P 500 was up 7.29 points, or 0.26 percent, at 2,846.42 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 12.10 points, or 0.16 percent, at 7,472.39.

Abbott Laboratories rose 3.5 percent after quarterly profit and 2018 adjusted earnings forecast beat estimates.

Texas Instruments fell 5.4 percent after the company posted its slowest revenue growth in four quarters.

United Continental tumbled 10 percent after the airline said it plans to increase capacity, likely threatening its profit margin. American Airlines fell 6.5 percent while Delta Air Lines dropped 6.6 percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,776 to 771. On the Nasdaq, 1,487 issues rose and 831 fell.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)