Wall Street opens higher, Dow posts new record

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street opened higher Wednesday after positive sentiment across the Atlantic arising from the European stock market's posting of daily gains.

The Dow Jones rose 43 points to begin the day at 18,601. The S&P 500 was up 5 points to 2,169 and the Nasdaq increased by 22 points to 5,059 to begin the day.

At the U.S. stock opening, Germany's DAX index was up 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE posted a 0.16 percent of gain, and France's CAC 40 had a 0.9 percent increase.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow posted a fresh all-time high record level of 18,619 points.

At Tuesday's close, the Dow ended higher for the eighth day in a row, while it was the sixth consecutive day the index finished at an all-time high.

The markets will focus Wednesday on the change in the U.S.'s weekly crude oil and gasoline inventories.

At the opening bell Wednesday, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $44.73 a barrel -- a 1.5 percent loss, and international benchmark Brent crude was down 1.3 percent to $46.06.