US open: Nasdaq on track for third straight record

Wall Street trading opened on a positive note on Wednesday as a technology and internet stock rally remained intact, putting the Nasdaq on course to deliver its third straight record on the back of a degree of optimism around ongoing trade talks between China and the US.

As of 1500 BST, the Nasdaq had reversed its earlier gains and slipped 0.07% to 7,632.21, while the Dow Jones had improved 0.35% to 24,887.64 and the S&P 500 moved ahead 0.06% to 2,750.53.

In the wake of an unexpected interest rate hike by the central bank of India - one of the world's largest emerging markets - and following somewhat hawkish remarks by the European Central Bank's chief economist, some analysts were also carefully monitoring movements in the US Treasury market.

"Treasuries continue to await next week's FOMC decision but keeping an eye on trade and ongoing European political concerns. Choppy price action is likely to continue in the meantime as investors attempt to fine-tune rate hike pricing, keeping the front-end supported," said analysts at TD Securities.

On a related note, overnight the World Bank forecast that the rate of growth in global gross domestic product would cool over the next two years after reaching a clip of 3.1% in 2018.

It also pointed to uncertainty around economic policy as a possible risk factor, together with the risk of a "credit event" in one of the major emerging markets or a sudden tightening of monetary policy in the US which might lead to a spike in interest rates.

In trade news, China signalled its willingness to boost purchases of US-made goods in 2018 by $25bn to $75bn.

On the economic front, the Department of Commerce reported that the country's international trade deficit shrank by 2.7% month-on-month for April to reach -$46.2bn, slightly ahead of Wall Street forecasts of -$49.0bn).

Meanwhile, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unit labour costs grew at an annualised pace of 2.9% in the US over the first three months of the year, again a touch above the consensus 2.7% increase.

In corporate news, shares in Axovant Sciences rocketed 134% after disclosing it had entered into a $842.5m licensing agreement with Oxford BioMedica for its OXB-102 gene therapy treatment for Parkinson-s disease.

Devon Energy picked up 6.59% following the sale of its stakes in EnLink Midstream Partners and EnLink Midstream LLC, allowing it ramp-up its share buy-back programme from $1bn to $4bn.

Signet Jewelers climbed 15.42% after the company posted better-than-expected adjusted earnings per share and revenue figures.

Western Digital ticked up 0.27% after analysts at Cowen raised the firm's price target and Mylan lost 0.48% a day after the stock's best day since October 2017.

Tesla stock rose more 5.01% after the company revealed it was nearing its Model 3 weekly production rate and Delta crashed 3.31% after the airline said it expected a surge in fuel prices to eat into its profits.