US open: Mixed start to trading with Sino-US relations in focus

Trading began on a mixed note on Thursday amid hopes that the world's two largest economies might finally call a truce on their ongoing trade war.

As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.05% at 26,524.57, while the S&P 500 was moving ahead by 0.39% to 2,925.03 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.60% firmer at 7,957.76.

The Dow opened 12.25 points weaker after Wall Street turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 closing lower but the Nasdaq seeing out the session with 0.32% gain on the back of a rally in technology shares.

Markets' focus was again centred mostly on global trade developments, after Trump said a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart could potentially lead to a trade deal. However, the President did warn that he was happy to slap more tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese exports if talks faltered once again.

The South China Morning Post also revealed overnight that officials from Washington and Beijing had tentatively agreed to resume talks, while the Wall Street Journal reported that Xi was expected to present Trump with his terms on Thursday ahead of the meeting.

China was expected to demand that Washington remove its ban on the sale of US technology to Huawei.

On the data front, the Commerce Department revealed that the nation's economy grew at a solid rate of 3.1% over the first quarter. However, the revised figures also showed that some components of aggregate demand, such as consumer spending and business investment, advanced at a slower pace than had been previously been estimated.

Elsewhere, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, hitting a seven-week high, according to a report from the Labor Department on Thursday.

US initial jobless claims increased by 10,000 from the previous week's revised level to 227,000. The previous week's level had been revised up by 1,000. Economists had been expecting a smaller jump to 220,000.

Lastly, contract signings to purchase previously-owned US homes increased in May, signalling that Americans might be responding to declining mortgage rates.

Pending home sales rose 1.1% month-on-month, just ahead of economists' estimates for an increase of 1.0%, according to the National Association of Realtors

Kansas City Fed survey data for June will be published at 1600 BST.

In corporate news, Walgreens Boots Alliance shares were up 3.82% after posting a big quarterly earnings beat on the back of improved prescription drug sales, while Accenture was down 2.46% at the bell despite raising its full-year forecast following its own better-than-expected third-quarter results.

Ford shares advanced 2.68% in early trading after announcing it would be cutting 12,000 jobs.

Nike will report their latest quarterly results after the bell on Thursday.