Stronger banks gave Wall Street an early boost, although investors remain cautious as the Dow approaches a two-month high and jobless rates rise in many states.

Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase lead the pack, offsetting losses at Cisco Systems and helping the Dow Jones add 17 points to 10,581.

The tech-stacked Nasdaq Composite is marking the 10th anniversary of its all-time high with a 12-point gain to 2,352, while the broader S&P 500 is up 4 at 1,144.

Yesterday, US stocks eased back near the close but still ended higher a year on from the bottom of the recent market weakness.

A report from the Labor Department has revealed jobless rates rose in 30 states and Washington DC in January, although that was down from 43 the month before.

It said unemployment rates fell in nine states and was unchanged in eleven.

There was also a surprise drop in wholesale inventories, which fell 0.2% at the start of 2009 rather than increase by the 0.2% predicted by economists.

After the closing bell Tuesday, Abbott Laboratories agreed to buy Facet Biotech for $27 a share.

Elsewhere, exports from China rose by 46% from a year ago in February as the east Asian economic powerhouse continued its recovery from last year's global economic downturn.

Meanwhile, German exports unexpectedly fell by 6.3% to €67.9bn in January compared with December 2009.

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