US open: Stocks shrug off lingering concerns surrounding US-Sino relations

Wall Street trading began with some gains on Wednesday, as traders shrugged off the previous day's losses despite lingering concerns about trade relations between the US and China.

At 1515 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial was 1.02% higher at 24,653.81, while the S&P 500 was trading 0.61% firmer at 2,649.06 and the Nasdaq had added 0.72% to 7,070.73.

The positive trading came despite reports late on Tuesday that the White House had cancelled a planned trade meeting this week with Chinese officials due to ongoing disagreements over intellectual property rules.

The reports were later refuted by Trump's economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who also said that the end of month talks would still be taking place and would be "very, very important" and "determinative".

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Promising trade talks has been a key driver of the rebound in markets over the last four weeks and if these talks are stalling and meetings are, in fact, being cancelled, investors may quickly lose confidence."

"Of course, other factors have also contributed to the improvement in risk appetite, including a more dovish and patient Fed, so I wouldn’t expect a dramatic drop-off but the momentum could well be lost."

Meanwhile, the partial government shutdown entered its 33rd day.

On Thursday, the Senate is expected to vote on two separate proposals that could end the shutdown if passed.

The first is a Republican-backed measure that would meet Trump's demand for a $5.7bn Mexico border wall in exchange for temporary protection for young undocumented immigrants, while the second would extend funding for the agencies currently closed until 8 February.

In corporate news, IBM rallied 7.87% at the open after well-received quarterly numbers late on Tuesday. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $4.87 for the quarter, down 5% year-on-year but around 3 cents higher than most analyst forecasts.

Elsewhere, consumer goods group Procter & Gamble climbed 5.82% in early trade after upping its full-year revenue guidance.

Telecoms company Comcast gained 5.26% and United Technologies racked up 5.42% at the bell as their quarterly updates impressed.