US open: Trade fears subside as stocks go green in first session after Fourth of July break

Wall Street trading began with gains on Thursday, thanks to a potential easing of tensions between Washington and Brussels and ahead of the release of key economic reports.

As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.51% to 24,297.93, while the S&P 500 had picked up 0.39% to 2,723.90 as the Nasdaq moved ahead 0.43% to 7,534.79.

Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at SpreadEx, said, "The US open did little to disrupt trading on Thursday, the Dow Jones easing itself back in after Wednesday's 4th July celebrations."

"Rising around 50 points after the bell, the Dow couldn’t quite reach the 24,300 levels suggested by its futures earlier in the day," added Campbell.

According to German daily Handelsblatt, the US instructed its ambassador in Germany to try and broker a solution between Berlin and Brussels on auto sector tariffs.

In corporate news, chip-maker Micron Technology gained 2.73% following an announcement that its fourth quarter sales had been hit after its Chinese subsidiaries were slapped with a preliminary injunction by a Chinese court linked to patent infringement disputes.

Facebook stocks gained 1.32% after analysts at BTIG hiked the social media giant's price target to $275.

TiVo shares lost 3.25% after announcing that chief executive Enrique Rodriguez had resigned less than six months after assuming the role, while Aegean Marine Petroleum's stock soared 109.95% after the firm reached a $1bn refinancing deal and potential strategic partnership.

On the economic side of things, initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 during the week ending on 30 June to reach 231,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although they remained near multi-decade lows and consultancy ADP reported that non-farm private sector payrolls grew by 177,000 in June, short of forecasts for a 190,000 gain.

Lastly, the US services sector expanded at a faster pace in June as the non-manufacturing index rose to 59.1 from 58.6 in May, the Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting were still to come at 1900 BST.