Financial and transportation sectors push stock market higher

The stock market edged higher on Wednesday as stocks in the transportation and financial sectors made significant gains.

The S&P 500 Index is up 0.58 percent, or 6.67 points, to trade at 1147.11 at 11:25 am EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 22.75 points, or 0.22 percent, at 10.587.13.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average is up 1.08 percent and the Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index is up 1.30 percent.

Notable gainers include Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), up 2.75 percent, and Citigroup (NYSE:C), up 4.04 percent. Airlines continue to perform well as Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) is up 3.12 percent and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is up 0.95 percent.

Earlier, U.S. stock market futures were constrained by weak data from Germany and the U.K. Before 9:30 am EST, futures on the S&P 500 index hit resistance around 1142.

However, S&P 500 futures broke through 1142 minutes after the opening of the U.S. stock market.

The stock market received a boost at 10:30 a.m. EST as the Energy Information Agency reported lower than expected oil inventories, sending oil prices higher.

At the beginning of the Asian session, China also released encouraging economic data as its exports were higher than expected.

However, the S&P 500 is expected to encounter resistance at 1150.45, the 2010 intraday high reached on January 15.