US STOCKS-Wall Street inches higher as concerns over U.S.-Iran escalation ease

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* Iran fires rockets at Iraqi bases hosting U.S. forces
* Trump to make statement at 11:00 am ET
* Walgreens Boots slides on quarterly profit miss
* Indexes up: Dow 0.03%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.25%

(Updates to open)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 8 (Reuters) - Wall Sreet indexes edged higher on
Wednesday as investors drew comfort from Iranian signals that
overnight missile strikes "concluded" its retaliation to the
U.S. killing of General Qassem Soleimani.
Sending shivers across global markets earlier in the day,
Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing U.S.
troops in Iraq, in response to the killing of Soleimani.
Investors are awaiting a statement from U.S. President
Donald Trump at 11:00 a.m. ET. Trump earlier tweeted "All is
well!" and said an assessment of casualties and damage was
underway. One source said early indications were of no U.S.
casualties.
Tehran's foreign minister said Iran took "proportionate
measures" in self-defence and did not seek to escalate the
confrontation.
"The attack was much milder than many had feared. Also it
seems like the United States is gearing up to protect its
interest in the Middle East," said Mark Grant, chief global
strategist at B. Riley FBR Inc.
"A lot of this is a positive reaction to the fact that what
has taken place so far hasn't been worse."
In a morning note, NatWest Markets said "there is an off
ramp here for U.S.-Iranian tensions, or at least for the
conflict to move back to the shadow/proxy/economic sanction
realm where it has resided."
At 9:53 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 9.81 points, or 0.03%, at 28,593.49, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 7.19 points, or 0.22%, at 3,244.37 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 22.96 points, or 0.25%, at 9,091.54.
Keeping the blue-chip Dow under pressure, Boeing Co BA.N
fell 1.9% after its 737-800 jet belonging to a Ukrainian airline
burst into flames shortly after take-off from Tehran, killing
all 176 people aboard. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O slid 6.7% after its
quarterly profit missed expectations, hurt by lower payments
from insurers on drugs sold at its U.S. pharmacies. In the latest upbeat U.S. data, the ADP National Employment
Report showed private payrolls jumped by 202,000 jobs last
month, much above the 160,000 rise expected by economists polled
by Reuters. The numbers come ahead of the government's more
comprehensive employment report for December scheduled for
release on Friday.
Macy's Inc M.N gained 1.3% after reporting a
better-than-feared 0.6% drop in holiday period same-store sales.
Peers J.C. Penney JCP.N was up 3.8% and Nordstrom JWN.N rose
0.5%.
Lennar Corp LEN.N gained 5.3% after the No. 2 U.S.
homebuilder beat quarterly profit estimates on the back of lower
home prices and mortgage rates. The PHLX housing index .HGX
rose 1.6%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.64-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.71-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 27 new 52-week highs and no new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 52 new highs and three new lows.