Stocks open slightly up

Wall Street opened slightly higher this morning as the markets digest a larger-than-expected trade imbalance released this morning and look forward to consumer sentiment numbers out at 10 a.m. today.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is up two-tenths of 1 percent.

The broader S&P 500 is up by about the same amount and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up a little more than one-tenth of 1 percent.

The Commerce Department said the trade imbalance jumped 18.2 percent in September, driven by a big rise in imports, led by oil. At the same time, exports increased for the fifth straight month, thanks to the weak dollar overseas.

In other news, two men have been arrested for creating the false trading statements that Bernie Madoff used to convince his investors that he was investing their money and not just using it to run the elaborate Ponzi scheme. Some of Madoff's ill-gotten gains -- luxury items, such as expensive watches -- are being auctioned off today, with proceeds going to his victims.

-- Frank Ahrens
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