US open: Wall Street holds higher despite headwinds, Hurricane Irma

Wall Street's major indices are holding their ground even in the face of the surprise resignation of US central bank vicepresident Stanley Fischer with even simmering worries about North Korea and Hurricane Irma failing to undermine investor sentiment.

At 1642 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 0.25% or 55.01 points at 21,809.85, alongside a gain of 0.23% or 5.76 points for the S & P 500 to 2,463.70 and a dip of 0.01% or 0.32 points on the Nasdaq Composite.

Indeed, traders seemed unpeturbed by the possibility that Fischer's resignation might imply, according to analysts at Capital Economics, that Janet Yellen will not opt to another term at the head of the central bank.

Broadly speaking, market participants also seemed unfazed by Hurricane Irma, which appeared to be on a track to strike Florida, with recent measurements pointing to wind speeds of up to 300km an hour.

However, investors in Property & Casualty insurers were already ducking for cover, with the sector the second-worst performer, trading lower by 3.22%. That was alongside losses for Coal (-3.25%), Non-ferrous metals (-1.86%), Financial Services (-1.72%) and Forestry & Paper (-1.69%).

In the background, it was all still about the Korean peninsula and its potential impact on markets.

On that note, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "There is clear concern about the escalating tensions between the US and North Korea which has culminated in repeated stints of risk off trading in recent weeks. With the increasingly frequent tests in North Korea triggering such moves, it's making traders a little more anxious than normal and it seems that for now, sitting on the side-lines is preferred.

"The verbal back and forth isn’t helping matters, although it is having less of a negative impact than it was a few weeks ago. Should the tests in the North and military exercises in the South continue in the coming weeks, it is possible that traders start to pay less and less attention on the belief that this is as far as it will go. For now though, no such confidence clearly exists."

On the economic front, the ISM institute's non-manufacturing PMI came in at a reading of 55.3 for August, up from 53.9 in July (consensus: 55.6).

Still ahead later in the evening was the release of the US central bank's Beige Book, at 1900 BST.

In corporate news, Hewlett Packard Enterprise was lower even after its earnings out late on Tuesday beat estimates.