Wall Street was higher in midday trade Tuesday after the Commerce Department reported that core personal consumption expenditures were 1.9 percent higher in June.
However, the same report also said that personal spending was up only 0.1 percent in June, its slowest growth in nine months.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidences was at a six year high.
At mid-session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.54 percent higher to 13,429.84, while the Nasdaq Composite had gained 0.25 percent to 2,589.62 and the S&P 500 was up 0.48 percent to 1,480.93.
Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) and News Corp (NYSE: NWS, NWSa; LSE: NCRA; ASX: NWS) were both higher after the Wall Street Journal, a Dow Jones-owned newspaper, reported that the Bancroft family is close to agreeing to a deal to be bought by News Corp.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp added 6 cents to $22.90, while Dow Jones was $6.29 higher to $57.85.
Fast food chain Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN) was also higher, adding $1.59 to $35.28 on an offer of between $37 and $41 per share.
Sun Microsystems (NAS: SUNW) was up 3 5 cents to $5.24 on a better than anticipated quarterly report, while in the automobile manufacturing sector General Motors (NYSE: GM) was up 82 cents to $33.43, also on a good quarterly result.
Despite a decline in profits of 30 percent in the second quarter from the same period last year, Waste Management Inc (NYSE: WMI) added $2.38 to $39.87 on an upped full-year forecast.