US open: Stocks higher as investors await 'phenomenal' Trump tax plan

US stocks traded higher on Friday after President Donald Trump promised to make a “phenomenal” announcement about his tax plans soon and that he would stand by the 'one China' policy concerning Taiwan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3% to 20,231.98, the S&P 500 gained 0.23% to 2,313.09 and the Nasdaq was 0.17% higher to 5,724.65 at 1517 GMT.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: "US markets picked up where they left off yesterday, opening at new record highs with bullish sentiment getting reinforced by reports that US President Trump had spoken to Chinese President Xi and that he would stand by the 'one China' policy that had been the baseline for US foreign policy for many years.

"This apparent change of tack would appear to suggest that the new administration could well be starting to adopt a more pragmatic softly, softly approach to foreign policy. Maybe President Trump is slowly realising that he can’t win every battle and that to try and do so is unrealistic."

After his election victory, Trump took a phone call with Taiwan’s president, angering Beijing which claims Taiwan is part of China. Washington cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 when it recognised China.

On Thursday, indices reached record closes after Trump said he was planning the most ambitious tax reform since the Reagan era in the next few weeks, although he stopped short of giving any details.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the president would outline a comprehensive tax plan, including cuts for individuals and businesses.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: “US President Donald Trump has started making the right noises again as far as markets are concerned, with Thursday’s promise of a ‘phenomenal’ tax announcement in the coming weeks certainly hitting all the right notes.

“Investors have become a little apprehensive in recent weeks due to the unpredictable nature of Trump’s policies and the timing of the announcements which has taken the edge of moves we saw heading into year end.”

In currency markets, the dollar gained as Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which lowered the yen.

The greenback was 0.26% stronger against the yen to 113.54, was up 0.35% against the pound to 0.8031 and rose 0.3% versus the euro to 0.9413.

Meanwhile, yields on the 10-year Treasury bond were up two percentage points to 2.41%.

Oil prices ticked higher, with West Texas Intermediate up 1.54% at $53.83 a barrel and Brent crude up 1.52% at $56.49.

On the corporate front, Sears jumped 30.43%, on track to be its best one day rise since November 2014, as the department store unveiled plans to cut its debt and pension costs by at least $1.5bn.

Mead Johnson gained 5.01% after London-listed consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser announced the acquisition of the baby food maker for up to $17.9bn.

Nvidia fell 2.26% despite reporting record revenue growth on Thursday.

Candy Crush Saga maker Activision Blizzard surged 13.7% after announcing a stock buyback and the lifting of its dividend, despite disappointing quarterly numbers.

Western Union fell 5.2% after the payments company reported a $355m fourth quarter loss, but beat earnings expectations.

On the data front, the US import price index rose to 0.4% in December from 0.5% the previous month which was revised up from 0.4%. This was more than the 0.2% expected.

Michigan consumer sentiment index dropped to 95.7 in February from a 13-year higher, from 98.5 last month, suggesting that US shoppers have cooled on their expectations on their finances. This was below the 97.8 forecast.