US open: Dow crosses 29,000 point barrier ahead of trade deal signing

Wall Street trading began on a positive note on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones breaking the 29,000 point barrier as investors awaited the signing of Washington and Beijing's "phase one" trade agreement.

As of 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.45% at 29,071.16, while the S&P 500 was 0.29% firmer at 3,292.68 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.31% stronger at 9,279.96.

The Dow opened 131.49 points firmer on Wednesday after seeing out the previous session higher following a slew of earnings from some of the country's biggest lenders.

Market participants will be keeping a close eye on the trade deal signing after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said tariffs on Chinese goods would remain in place until both nations were able to reach an enforceable "phase two" agreement, according to Reuters.

US trade representatives said the document included a "dramatic expansion of US food, agriculture and seafood product exports" and would lead to China buying at least $200.0bn in US products over a two-year period.

Also lifting sentiment were comments made by White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow that the Trump administration would unveil more tax cuts later in the year.

Earnings season was in focus too, with more results from some of the US' biggest banks, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, both topping Wall Street estimates with their latest quarterly results ahead of the opening bell.

In other corporate news, Target shares fell more than 5% after the retailer posted some disappointing holiday same-store sales figures.

On the data front, producer prices in the States rose a tad less quickly than anticipated last month due to the drag from trade services prices.

According to the Department of Labor, so-called final demand prices edged up at a month-on-month pace of 0.1% in December (consensus: 0.2%), so that the year-on-year rate of change remained at 1.3% (consensus: 1.3%), as in November.

Elsewhere, a closely-followed gauge of factory sector conditions in the jurisdiction on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York continued to outperform national manufacturing sector gauges like that from the Institute for Supply Management.

The so-called Empire State index edged up from a reading of 3.3 for December to 4.8 in January, edging past economists' forecasts for a rise to 4.0.

Wednesday's survey results only served to widen the gap in place versus the ISM measure, given the New York area's much lower exposure to the US-China trade war.