Stocks Start Higher on Wall Street; GM Gains Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street a day after sinking on worries that the Fed might be getting ready to scale back its support of the U.S. economy. General Motors rose 3 percent after the government said it expects to sell the rest of its stake in the automaker by the end of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,951 in the first few minutes of trading Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up five points, or 0.3 percent, at 1,787. The Nasdaq composite rose 23 points, or 0.6 percent, to 3,944. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note continued to climb as investors sold bonds. The yield rose to 2.84 percent from 2.80 percent late Wednesday.