Wall Street opens higher on GM rally

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

NEW YORK, Dec. 26 (Chinese media) -- Wall Street opened modestly higher Friday, as struggling General Motors rallied after its financial arm GMAC was allowed to convert into a bank.

The Federal Reserve allowed GMAC Financial Services to become a bank holding company on Dec. 24 and thus qualify for the U.S. government's 700-billion-U.S. dollar rescue plan.

The market was also boosted by Amazon.com Inc. after the company sold 6.3 million items on Dec. 15, the busiest day of what the world's largest Internet retailer said was its best holiday shopping season.

The Dow Jones rose 40.06 points to 8,508.54. Broader indexes also moved higher. The Standard Poor's 500 index rose 4.85 points to 873.00, and the Nasdaq climbed 4.16 points to 1,529.06.