Wall St. up as consumer, financial stocks lead gains

Wall Street rose in early afternoon trading on Thursday, helped by a rally in financial and consumer discretionary stocks after strong U.S. economic data put the likelihood of a September rate hike back on the table. The stock gave the biggest boost to the Nasdaq and the S&P. U.S. retail sales rebounded in July, while the trend of weekly jobless claims pointed to a tightening job market, increasing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates as early as September. The