US open: Stocks trade higher ahead of Powell's Senate testimony

Wall Street trading got off to a positive start on Thursday as all eyes remained fixed on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.

As of 1450 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.48% at 38,846.37, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.56% to 5,133.51 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.58% firmer at 16,124.74.

The Dow opened 185.32 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session as major indices managed to reclaim some of their weekly losses.

On Wednesday, Powell told the House Financial Services Committee that the central bank's policy rate was at its "peak for this tightening cycle", but also said the Fed was not ready to begin reducing rates just yet. Powell will now appear before the Senate Banking Committee at 1500 GMT.

On the macro front, Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a faster-than-anticipated clip in the week ended 2 March, according to the Labor Department. Initial jobless claims were unchanged from the prior week's upwardly revised reading of 217,000, ahead of analyst expectations for a reading of 215,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 215,000.

Elsewhere, the US trade deficit in goods widened to $90.20bn in January, up from a revised print of $87.89bn in December, according to the Census Bureau. Imports rose by 1.1%, driven by sales of capital goods and vehicles, while exports increased at a much slower rate of 0.2% amid declines in exports of industrial supplies, as well as foods, feeds and beverages.

Monthly consumer credit figures will be published at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, Victoria's Secret traded sharply lower on the back of mixed quarterly results and disappointing guidance, while Novo Nordisk traded higher following positive results from a trial on its obesity treatment.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.77 2.83%
American Express Co. (AXP) $222.95 2.06%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $340.36 1.41%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $21.13 1.15%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $393.99 1.13%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $197.76 0.82%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $149.43 0.74%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $57.24 0.67%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $475.41 0.59%
3M Co. (MMM) $93.02 0.54%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $274.50 -0.76%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $59.42 -0.22%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $49.20 0.07%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $220.77 0.07%
Visa Inc. (V) $280.64 0.07%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $123.98 0.19%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $304.34 0.19%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $189.90 0.20%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $40.02 0.23%

S&P 500 - Risers

Kroger Co. (KR) $53.33 5.62%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $39.66 3.99%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $91.59 3.69%
Resmed Inc. (RMD) $190.55 3.40%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $90.76 3.36%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.77 2.83%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $83.88 2.82%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $19.59 2.81%
Comerica Inc. (CMA) $52.61 2.75%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $98.17 2.73%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) $35.97 -1.53%
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) $150.54 -1.17%
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) $18.57 -1.08%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $90.67 -1.07%
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) $772.38 -0.95%
Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) $174.38 -0.86%
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $55.86 -0.83%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $17.40 -0.80%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $35.08 -0.76%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $274.50 -0.76%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $90.76 3.36%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.77 2.83%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $98.17 2.73%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $1,384.55 2.56%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $138.10 2.20%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $171.49 2.14%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $1,023.29 1.93%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $105.54 1.90%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $567.35 1.77%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $902.69 1.77%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

JD.com, Inc. (JD) $24.21 -2.81%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $97.99 -1.40%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $90.67 -1.07%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $35.08 -0.76%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $274.50 -0.76%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $86.30 -0.54%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $64.35 -0.54%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $41.94 -0.50%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $93.74 -0.42%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $132.05 -0.34%