Market update: US retail sales rise strongly in February

Yesterday the Dow Jones closed flat while the S&P finished up 0.1%. Data releases showed that US business inventories grew at their fastest pace in January since May 2011 while retail sales in February rose strongly. Shares of Silver Spring Networks, the US software services company, jumped 29.4% on the company’s first day of trading, raising US$81m after pricing shares in its initial public offering at US$17.

In early morning trading the FTSE 100 has opened up 0.2% and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 is 0.5% higher. Shares in Morrison’s rose 4.3% after the grocer revealed it was in talks with established web delivery specialist Ocado about licensing intellectual property as it continued to seek to catch up with its rivals online. Meanwhile, Prudential shares remained in demand after the news of its major dividend increase continued to energise the stock for a second consecutive day.