Stocks open higher on Wall Street, oil prices ease lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are off to a solid start on Wall Street and oil prices are easing back from their recent upward march, which had worsened investors’ already heightened worries about inflation. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% in the early going, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a similar amount. European markets were also higher and Asian markets closed higher overnight. Bond yields continued to rise a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was prepared to move more aggressively in raising interest rates in its fight against inflation, if it needed to.