New York, Sep 29 (IANS): The US stocks opened mildly higher on Tuesday following the previous day's plunge as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of slower economic growth for commodity exporters over the 2015-2017 period.
In an analytical chapter of the IMF's flagship World Economic Outlook report, which is to be published next week in Peru, IMF economists found that the weak commodity price outlook could subtract almost one percentage point annually from the growth rate of commodity exporters over the 2015-2017 period as compared with the 2012-2014 period, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to the research, analysts generally agreed that commodity prices will likely remain low, given ample supplies and weak prospects for global economic growth, and the commodity futures prices suggest future spot prices for commodities will remain low or rebound only moderately over the next five years.
Commodities, however, recovered slightly in early trading on Tuesday. Some analysts said the turmoil in commodities dominated the market sentiment recently, which caused a heavy sell-off in commodity stocks.
On the US economic front, the September consumer confidence index is due out later.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.89 points, or 0.24 percent, to 16,040.78. The S&P 500 added 3.48 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,885.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 9.46 points, or 0.21 percent, to 4,553.43.
On Monday, the US stocks suffered big losses as uncertainties about the timing of the US interest rate hikes weighed on Wall Street sentiment.