NEW YORK, May 14 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes rose Wednesday morning on news that price inflation came in under expectations.

The U.S. Labor Department said the consumer price index rose 0.2 percent, below the 0.3 percent rise analysts had predicted.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained quickly, adding 93.23 points in midmorning trading to 12,925.41, up 0.73 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index rose 9.80 points to 1,412.84, up 0.7 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was up 21.01 points to 2,516.13, up 0.84 percent.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 6/32 to yield 3.89 percent.

The dollar gained. The euro traded at $1.5446 from Tuesday's $1.5478 and the dollar traded at 105.11 yen from Tuesday's 104.79 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index gained 164.82 points to 14,118.55, up 1.18 percent.

BAGHDAD, May 14 (UPI) -- Kurdish excavators in Iraq discovered three fields holding an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil, the region's oil minister announced Wednesday.

But Oil Minister Ashti Horami is in a position of having to defend deals he has already signed with several foreign companies, Azzaman.com reported.

Horami said deals with Norwegian DNA ASA, Turkish companies PetOil and Gnel, and Australia's Woodside Petroleum and Heritage Oil were set to channel 90 percent of the region's oil revenues to the Kurdish regional government, the report said.

The Oil Ministry has purposefully subdivided large reserves to increase profits and woo smaller oil companies to the region.

But the Oil Ministry in Baghdad considers the contracts illegal, Azzaman.com reported.

In spite of this, Horami has so far signed contracts with 20 firms from Turkey, Britain, the United States, Canada, South Korea and India, the report said.

WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Worries about the U.S. economy are beginning to rise through the ranks of higher income levels, a recent poll suggested.

In the Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted May 8-11, a majority of respondents -- 80 percent -- indicated the economy had veered pretty seriously off-track, the Post reported Wednesday.

Of the 1,122 adults surveyed, 68 percent were concerned the economy would erode their current lifestyles, an increase of 17 percent from a December poll, the report said.

Of those earning $100,000 or more per year, nearly 60 percent were worried their lifestyles would have to change.

Two-thirds indicated gasoline prices were a hardship and 20 percent indicated it was the most important economic issue.

But, U.S. consumers have yet to park their cars. More than half the respondents indicated gas prices would have to reach $5.65 per gallon before they would change their driving habits.

The poll carried a margin of error of 3 percentage points, the Post reported.

TORONTO, May 14 (UPI) -- A poll of Canadians indicates 57 percent say they want federal taxes on gasoline rolled back and 50 percent said oil companies are making excessive profits.

The poll results by The Strategic Counsel for CTV News and The Globe and Mail newspaper were published as the average price of gas at the pumps rose 3.9 cents to $1.29 per liter -- the equivalent of $4.85 per gallon.

The price of gas is lower by at least $1 per gallon in the United States because of lower taxes, The Globe and Mail said.

The poll asked for opinions on why prices are soaring and 29 percent of respondents cited increasing demand from Asian countries, 14 percent said high government taxes and half blamed excessive oil company profits.

Fairly or unfairly, oil companies perennially wear black hats with most consumers, the Strategic Counsel's Peter Donolo told CTV.

The poll of 1,000 people had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, the report said.