US stocks edge higher after tepid inflation data

Wall Street stocks rose modestly early on Thursday as benign US inflation data mitigated investor worries about higher interest rates that helped prompt the prior session's rout.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1% at 25 625.77 after suffering its biggest drop since February on Wednesday.

The broad-based S&P 500 also added 0.1% at 2 788.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up a hair at 7 469.73.

US consumer prices rose just 0.1% in September over the prior month, a tenth of a point below a analyst forecasts, with falling energy and flat prices for food weighing on the index.

The tepid data was seen as easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to accelerate its pace of interest rate increases.

Expectations of more Fed rate hikes helped lift the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond suddenly above 3.0% last week.

But the yield fell back early Thursday to 3.165%.

The pullback in yields also came as US President Donald Trump doubled down on criticism of the Fed's rate hike policies, saying the US central bank was "making a big mistake" in a talk show appearance on the Fox network.

Global stocks were volatile following Wednesday's selloff in the United States. Asian markets suffered deep losses, but bourses in Paris and Frankfurt - while still down - had cut their losses in afternoon trading.