US open: Stocks trade higher at the opening bell

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Wednesday as strained US-Sino relations remained in focus.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.52% at 32,565.16, while the S&P 500 was 0.82% firmer at 4,124.92 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.57% stronger at 12,542.23.

The Dow opened 168.99 points higher on Wednesday, taking a bite out of losses recorded in the previous session amid heightened US-China tensions amid House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's arrival in Taiwan.

Pelosi's controversial journey to Taiwan was still drawing an amount of investor attention early on Wednesday, with traders concerned that her trip would further strain already tense relations between the world's biggest economies after China spent weeks warning the House Speaker not to visit.

Comments from three Federal Reserve presidents that hinted that the central bank saw further rate hikes as being necessary if it were to fight high inflation were also in focus at the opening bell.

In terms of earnings, quarterly results from Booking Holdings, Hostess Brands, and Western Union will be published after the close.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications rose 1.2% in the final week of July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the first increase in five weeks, with the refinance and purchase index advancing 1.5% and 1.0%, respectively.

Elsewhere, services sector activity in the US slumped during the previous month with output falling at its fastest pace since May 2020, revised data for a survey of sector conditions revealed. S&P Global's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index slipped from a reading of 52.7 for June to 47.3 in July (Preliminary 47.0). New orders on the other hand returned to growth, after a marginal fall in June, but at a much slower pace than seen earlier in the year.,

On another note, activity in the US services sector accelerated unexpectedly in July, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed. The Institute for Supply Management's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index improved from a reading of 55.3 for June to 56.7 in July. Economists had pencilled-in a decline to 53.9 for the headline index.

Finally, the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing PMI increased unexpectedly to 56.7 in July, up from 55.3 in June, while factory orders jumped 2% month-on-month in June, according to the Census Bureau, extending an upwardly revised 1.8% rise in May and well above market forecasts for a 1.1% increase

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $189.58 3.15%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $107.79 2.94%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $163.97 2.47%
American Express Co. (AXP) $154.54 1.94%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $113.90 1.91%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $279.59 1.74%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $332.70 1.47%
Visa Inc. (V) $209.21 1.43%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $39.60 1.42%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $247.16 1.33%