US open: Stocks trade slightly higher as bond yields remain in focus
Wall Street stocks traded slightly higher early on Wednesday as Treasury yields remained firmly in focus.
As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.16% at 31,194.19, while the S&P 500 was 0.20% stronger at 3,916.00 and the came out the gate 0.33% firmer at 11,582.55.
The Dow opened 48.89 points higher on Wednesday, taking a small bite out of losses recorded in the first session back from the three-day Labor Day breather.
Treasury yields were again in focus at the open, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising more than 10 basis points to 3.301%, while its 2-year counterpart rose about eight basis points to 3.485%.
Wednesday's moves come after the 10-year note jumped to its highest level since June in the previous session and the rate on the 30-year Treasury closed at its highest level since 2014.
Bitcoin was also drawing an amount of investor attention, with the cryptocurrency moving below $19,000 per coin early on Wednesday, its lowest level since June.
On the macro front, mortgage applications decreased 0.8% in the week ended 2 September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, with the refinance index slipping 1% from the previous week and 83% when compared to the same week a year earlier, while the seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 1% week-on-week.
Elsewhere, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed the US trade balance narrowed by $10.2bn in July to a nine-month low of $70.7bn, with exports up 0.2% to a fresh record high of $259.3bn and imports slipping 2.9% to $329.9bn.
Still to come, the Federal Reserve's Beige book, the central bank's summary on current economic conditions, will be published at 1900 BST.
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Wednesday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com