US open: Positive open on the Street despite sombre jobs report

US stock opened higher on Tuesday as investors grew hopeful that the latest round of talks between the US and China would ease trade tensions.

At 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.62% higher at 23,677.77, while the S&P 500 moved ahead 0.38% to 2,559.40 and the Nasdaq traded 0.24% firmer at 6,839.73.

The Dow opened more than 270 points higher but lost some of its earlier momentum as a key report revealed job openings across the US had fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of summer.

However, investors remained hopeful and carved out some gains as the second day of talks between Chinese and US officials was set to kick-off in Beijing later on in the day.

Early reports out of Beijing state American and Chinese negotiators had reportedly made progress in talks, including on purchases of US goods and services, but the two sides were said to still not be ready to finalise a deal.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, citing sources, follow-up cabinet-level talks were expected later in January.

Earlier, the US President himself had tweeted: "Talks with China are going very well!"

Of the boost in sentiment coming from the talks, Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said there's every chance markets could be setting themselves up for a disappointment "given that there isn’t exactly a lot behind Tuesday’s rally - as in a lack of concrete detail leaking out of the meeting rooms in Beijing."

"Investors appear to be clinging onto US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ claim that there is a ‘very good chance’ can agreement can be reached before the end of the ceasefire on March 1," he added.

The government shutdown, which has entered its third week, was also on investors' minds as Donald Trump was due to make a speech later from the Oval Office, in which he is expected to argue that an immigration crisis requires his Mexican border wall.

In energy news, West Texas Intermediate was 2.14% higher at $49.56 a barrel, while Brent Crude was 1.80% higher at $58.36.

On the corporate side of things, Boston Scientific was up 1.22% after the release of its fourth-quarter sales figures and Union Pacific was trading 9.04% firmer after it announced that former Canadian National executive Jim Vena had taken over as COO.

On the data front, the latest survey from the National Federation of Independent Business showed that small business confidence in the US remained near historically-high levels in December amid signs of strength in hiring and in companies' inventory planning.

But some analysts said the stable headline index masked underlying weakness and rising price pressures.

The NFIB's small business confidence gauge slipped by just 0.4 points from the month before to reach 104.4, versus consensus expectations for a reading of 103.5. Meanwhile, a sub-index linked to job openings hit a fresh record high and according to the NFIB plans for inventory investment surged.

However, those positives were offset by a decline in expected real sales growth and expected business conditions.

Reports of higher worker compensation remained near record levels too, NFIB said.

According to the business lobby group: "Critics of the Federal Reserve are popping up everywhere. They say that the Federal Reserve is not paying attention to what financial markets are telling us about the economy.

"However, the stock market does not reflect the entire economy. The small business sector represents the other half and it continues its two-year run of record high performance levels, an important consideration."

Still, Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics believed a further decline in business optimism was likely in January.

In particular, Shepherdson noted the four point decline seen in the sub-index for companies' capital expenditure plans, which he described as a "big blow", although it remained to be seen if the drop would "stick" or even drop further.

Elsewhere, the number of job openings fell to 6.9m in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over the month, hires edged down to 5.7m, quits edged down to 3.4m, and total separations were broadly unchanged at 5.5m.