Wall St higher as modest impact seen from Paris attack

By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in early trading on Monday with investors seeing little long-term economic impact from Friday's deadly attacks in Paris.

Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the energy sector's 1.20 percent rise leading the advancers. Oil prices rose after French air strikes before easing back as a supply glut weighed.

Exxon's shares were up 1.1 percent and Chevron 1.7 percent.

"Expectations are that (the attacks) will have a modest potential economic impact and, as a result, markets have the potential to look through this over the very near term," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank in New York.

At 9:39 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 54.69 points, or 0.32 percent, at 17,299.93, the S&P 500 was up 8.26 points, or 0.41 percent, at 2,031.3 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 8.92 points, or 0.18 percent, at 4,936.80.

The Paris attacks added to the uncertainty already facing the market. U.S. stocks logged their largest weekly loss since August last week on the back of weak economic data and disappointing earnings from retailers such as Macy's.

Airline stocks slipped on fears that the attacks would curb travel. American Airlines was down 3.2 percent, United Continental was off 2.3 percent and Delta Airlines fell 3.4 percent.

Cruise operator Carnival Corp fell 1.6 percent, while travel company Expedia was down 2.9 percent.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is not selling any securities from his portfolio as a result of the attacks, CNBC quoted him as saying.

Buffett cut his stakes in Goldman Sachs and Wal-Mart in the quarter to Sept. 30, and raised his holding in IBM, according to a regulatory filing. Goldman was down 0.7 percent. IBM was up 1.5 percent and Wal-Mart nearly 1 percent.

Starwood Hotels fell 5.3 percent to $71 after agreeing to be bought by Marriott International for $12.2 billion, or $72.08 per share. Marriott fell 1.1 percent to $71.97.

Clovis Oncology sank 72 percent to $72.68 after it said its cancer treatment could be delayed as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had sought more information.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,724 to 936. On the Nasdaq, 1,211 issues rose and 1,048 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 1 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 2 new highs and 56 new lows.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)