Wall Street opens with moderate gains on US-China trade headlines

Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day in the positive territory on Thursday boosted by the latest headlines suggesting that the U.S. and China are moving closer to a trade deal. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.45% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both adding 0.25%.

Earlier today, President Trump said, via Twitter, that USMCA and China trade deals were moving along nicely. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was expected to announce the date of a summit with his Chinese Counterpart Xi later today. Citing Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s executive vice president, the WSJ said that the U.S. was moving toward "the end game" in trade talks with China.

Among the 11 S&P 500 major indexes, the trade-sensitive Materials and Industrials indexes were up 0.45% and 0.43%, respectively. On the other hand, the Real Estate and the Utilities indexes, which usually struggle to find demand when the risk appetite is strong, were staying in the negative territory in the early trade.