US open: Stocks continue historic rally
US stocks recorded some early gains on Friday as investors again shrugged off news of the President's impeachment.
As of 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.29% at 28,459.59, while the S&P 500 was ahead 0.42% at 3,218.81 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.24% stronger at 8,908.78.
The Dow opened 82.63 points higher on Friday after the Street's main boards once again saw a record high close for all three indices. The Nasdaq's gain was its seventh day of increases on the trot.
Market focus was also still on trade news as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said late on Thursday that he had no doubt trade negotiators would sign their "phase one" deal in early January.
Oanda's Craig Elam said: "US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sought to assure investors that the phase one trade deal with China will be ready to sign at the beginning of January, after undergoing a 'technical scrub'.
"I'm not quite sure what that means exactly, but hopefully this isn't the same 'done' as we were told in October because those final details took some time to iron out."
On the data front, the pace of economic activity in the States picked up slightly in the third quarter, helped by a smaller drag from inventory building alongside stronger exports and residential fixed investment.
Revised data from the Department of Commerce showed that America's gross domestic product expanded at an annualised pace of 2.1% over the three months ending in September to reach $19.121trn.
Elsewhere, consumer sentiment rose slightly in December, the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers revealed. The index of consumer sentiment reached 99.3 for the month - just above estimates of 99.2 and well ahead of November's print of 96.8.
Still to come, Kansas City Federal Reserve manufacturing activity figures for December will be published at 1600 GMT.
In corporate news, Carnival shares were up 6.91% after reporting record full-year revenues and profits despite multiple headwinds, while Winnebago shares were up 10% on the back of its own figures.