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North American stocks rose at the start of trading on Wednesday, as investors overlooked disappointing quarterly results from Dell Inc. and embraced strong earnings from key U.S. retailers.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66 points or 0.6 per cent, to 11,472. The broader S&P 500 rose 12 points or 1 per cent, to 1205. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 172 points or 1.4 per cent, to 12,702.

Dell slipped 6.3 per cent after it reported disappointing quarterly sales on Tuesday evening. However, its misfortunes didn't spread to the broader market, with Target Corp. up 5.6 per cent and Staples Inc. up 0.3 per cent after they reported upbeat earnings.

U.S. banks also rose, with Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. up 2 per cent each.

In Canada, commodities and financials helped drive the benchmark index higher. Among energy stocks, Suncor Energy Inc. rose 1.9 per cent and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. rose 1.1 per cent. Among materials stocks, Teck Resources Ltd. rose 1.7 per cent and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. rose 1.3 per cent.

Royal Bank of Canada rose 1.1 per cent and Bank of Nova Scotia rose 1.4 per cent.

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