US open: Modest gains at the bell as US-Sino trade news boosts sentiment

Wall Street stocks carved out some modest gains at the open on Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US and China were "about 90% of the way there" on a deal.

As of 1535 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.26% at 26,616.77, while the S&P 500 opened 0.22% firmer at 2,923.87 and the Nasdaq Composite stormed ahead 0.78% to 7,946.53.

The Dow opened 68.55 points stronger on Wednesday as the main stock market indices attempted to bounce back after finishing in the red on Tuesday on the heels of some much weaker-than-expected consumer confidence data and rising tensions in the Gulf.

On the trade front, Washington may not go ahead with another round of levies on Chinese exports while the two capitals are preparing to resume trade talks.

According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the situation, the decision was still under consideration and might be announced following the meeting between the US and Chinese Presidents scheduled for 29 June.

Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday: "We were about 90% of the way there (with a deal) and I think there's a path to complete this."

Mnuchin, who provided no further detail as to what the final 10% of an agreement would entail, added that he was confident Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could make further progress in the duo's stalled trade talks at the upcoming G20 leaders' summit.

During the previous session, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was assessing whether or not the current state of the US economy was calling for lower rates. He also reiterated that the Fed would maintain its "wait-and-see" approach given recent, rapid economic changes.

"The things I say about monetary policy here today are intended to be fully consistent with the message that I delivered," Powell told the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday.

However, shortly afterwards James Bullard, president of the St Louis Fed, downplayed the prospects of a 50 basis point rate cut at the July FOMC, although he did indicate that a 25bp reduction in official short-term rates might be appropriate, adding that a larger reduction would be "overdone".

On the data front, America's shortfall in trade on goods with the rest of the world widened last month as imports rose more quickly than expected, contrary to expectations for declines in both exports and imports.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the Commerce Department reported a widening in the US goods trade deficit, from -$70.92bn for April to -$74.55bn in May.

In the same report, Commerce said that wholesale inventories grew by 0.4% versus April to reach $678.7bn, as expected by economists.

Separately, Commerce revealed that orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years, a key gauge of business investment, softened unexpectedly in May, amid drops in those for civilian and military aircraft.

According to the Department of Commerce, total durable goods orders shrank by 1.3% month-on-month to reach an annualised pace of $243.4bn and were 1.0% higher on a year ago.

In corporate news, General Mills shares slumped 7.49% in early trade after the Cheerio's maker quarterly sales disappointed, while Micron Technology shares led a tech rally after the chipmaker revealed it could "lawfully resume" making shipments to Chinese telco giant Huawei.

Facebook and Alphabet shares were broadly flat after Trump said the tech giants should be slapped with a lawsuit due to an alleged bias against conservatives.

"We should be suing Google and Facebook and all that, which perhaps we will," Trump said.

He also took aim at Twitter, claiming without evidence that the company was "making it very hard" to "get out my message".

The president had reportedly complained about his follower count during a meeting with Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey back in April, who explained his lost followers were predominately bots.

Bed Bath and Beyond, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Pier 1 Imports will all report quarterly earnings later in the day.