US open: Stocks go green early in shortened Tuesday session

US stocks were positive at the open on Tuesday as investors seemingly put their worries about a trade war aside for the moment.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.32% to 24,384.07, while the S&P 500 picked up 0.24% to 2,733.15 and the Nasdaq gained 0.01% to 7,568.15.

Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at SpreadEx, said, "The Dow Jones jumped 80 points after the bell – short of the 24400-crossing gains promised by the futures, but enough to put a bit of ground between the index and its recent two-month lows. The Dow hasn’t had too much to deal with this Tuesday, and has tomorrow off for the 4th July celebrations, so it’ll be hoping it can get to the end of the US session unscathed."

On Monday, stocks managed to reverse early losses to close up thanks to a rally in the technology sector.

In currency markets, the dollar was down 0.1% against the euro as the single currency found some support from news that German chancellor Angela Merkel has secured a deal to prevent her coalition from collapsing.

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "German political concerns have been largely eradicated over the past week, with the recent EU deal on migrants clearly removing a key hurdle between Angela Merkel’s CDU party and their Bavarian sister party, the CSU. With German leadership looking relatively stable under Merkel, the likely continuation of her leadership allows investors to look beyond domestic affairs and concentrate back on the global picture once again."

Despite the upbeat tone in markets, escalating trade tensions remained in focus, particularly after it emerged that the Trump administration has recommended to the Federal Communications Commission that China Mobile not be allowed to enter the US telecommunications market for reasons of national security.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a branch of the Commerce Department, said on Monday that China Mobile’s entry "would pose unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks".

Accendo Markets analyst Mike van Dulken said: "This understandably adds to fears of a US-China trade war stepping up another level (£34bn US tariffs on Chinese goods due Friday), putting at risk the rare occurrence of synchronised global growth."

In corporate news, electric car maker Tesla dropped 4.62% after the Journal revealed that Elon Musk's top engineer Doug Field was leaving.

Elsewhere, Micronet Enertec Technologies surged 34.13% at the open following news that BNN Technology bought a 15% stake in the company last month.

On the data front, the ISM NY index for business conditions showed conditions eased throughout June, dropping from 56.4 in May to 55.

The fall, the second monthly decline in a row, was in stark contrast to the six-month outlook of 85.7 reported in December 2017, the highest level of optimism seen in over a decade.

In other news, US factory orders rose 0.4% in May, led by an increase in demand for machinery and military wares.

Economists had expected the reading, which followed a 0.8% decline in April, to come in flat month-on-month.