US open: Stocks trade up after better-than-expected GDP figures

Wall Street trading began on a positive note on Friday as market participants continued to digest earnings and some better-than-expected economic growth figures for the second quarter.

At 1525 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.07% at 27,161.01, while the S&P 500 was ahead 0.50% at 3,018.66 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.90% firmer at 8,312.71.

The Dow opened 20.03 points stronger after closing lower on Thursday as investors began to think the Federal Reserve may not be as dovish with its monetary policy as initially expected following the European Central Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged on Thursday.

The ECB's move dented optimism around rate cuts in the US, with traders seemingly taking Mario Draghi's decision to mean that the Fed may not be quite as aggressive when it comes to easing measures itself when it meets next week.

On the macroeconomic front, figures from the Commerce Department showed the US economy expanded 2.1% during the second quarter of this year, with growth driven by a 4.3% increase in consumer expenditures, which offset a 5.5% slump in business investment.

GDP had been expected to come in at 1.8%.

Neil Wilson, market analyst at Markets.com, said: "US GDP came in at 2.1% in Q2, ahead of expectations but short of the Q1 reading. It’s something of a Goldilocks GDP number. It’s solid but not hot enough to stop the Fed from cutting rates next week.

"What it does (should?) suggest is that we are more likely to see next week’s cut as fine-tuning rather the start of an easing cycle that involves several cuts. The only problem with that is the Fed will instantly come under attack from both the markets and Trump."

In terms of earnings, Amazon reported mixed results from its second quarter overnight, while earnings from Google parent Alphabet were ahead of estimates and Tesla shares dropped after it reported a wider-than-expected loss.

Starbucks opened higher after reporting same-store-sales growth well ahead of estimates, while McDonald's climbed 0.9% in early trade as same-store sales across the US came in ahead of expectations.

Elsewhere, Apple was in focus after the US President said the tech giant would not be granted tariff waivers or relief for MacBook Pro parts made in China.