Wall Street opens higher with rise in personal spending

NEW YORK (AA) - Wall Street opened the first trading day of the week on Tuesday on a higher note, after Monday's state holiday with a rise in the U.S.' personal spending.

The Dow Jones was up 17 points to begin the day at 17,890. The S&P 500 rose only by 2 points at 2,101, while the Nasdaq added 6 points to start at 4,940.

Personal spending, which accounts for around 70 percent of the overall economic activity, was up by one percent in April -- the highest monthly increase in the last seven years, according to the U.S. Trade Department. The market expectation was a 0.6 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the rise in oil prices continued on Tuesday.

At the opening bell, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up by 0.9 percent at $49.77 per barrel, and the international benchmark Brent crude traded at $50.40 a barrel with a 0.1 percent rise.

The oil market is focusing on OPEC's annual meeting to be held this Thursday in Austrian capital Vienna.

The U.S. stock market was closed on Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.