Wall Street opens higher as global sentiment improves.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) has been upgraded by the team at UBS.

UBS analyst's have set a new target price of 21 on Bank of America stock, that is 35.57% higher than yesterday's close at 15.49.

 The bank has announced today that it will sell its entire stake in Brazil's largest private bank, Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB), for a little more than $3.9 billion, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Bank of America holds a 5.36% stake in Itau Unibanco. Bank of America said it will sell 188.4 million preferred shares of Itau Unibanco in the form of American Depositary Shares, with each ADS priced at $16.00. That operation will total $3.01 billion.

Wall Street heads higher

Bank of America Corp is amongst those stocks that are rising in early trading after an upbeat durable goods report gave investors a reason to keep buying following the previous day's late rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 53.20, or 0.5 percent, at 10,095.52 Wednesday. It closed down just 22 points Tuesday after falling more than 250 points shortly after trading opened.

The durable goods report gave investors further evidence the U.S. economy is improving. The Commerce Department says orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose by 2.9 percent last month. That's more than double the jump economists had forecast.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 6.18, or 0.6 percent, at 1,080.21, while the Nasdaq composite index is up 20.51, or 0.9 percent, at 2,231.46.

A separate report from the Commerce Department is expected to show some improvement in the housing market as well. However, the report could be brushed aside because it might have be inflated by home buyers rushing to take advantage of a tax credit that expired last month.

Economists forecast sales of new homes rose 4.6 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 430,000 units. The report is due out at 10 a.m. EDT.