US open: Wall Street unmoved by McMaster rumours

Trading on Wall Street kicked off on a positive note, with the main indices shaking off some of yesterday's weakness despite sentiment suffering earlier in the day from talk of yet another White House departure and after the Trump organisation was hit with a subpoenae by Special Counsel Mueller as part of his investigation into alleged Russian links.

As of 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial was up 0.53%, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq moving ahead by 0.42% and 0.14%, respectively.

Overnight, strategists at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch advised their clients that it had seen a record $43.3bn of inflows into equities over the week ending 14 March.

Their take on the latest weekly flow data was that clients were increasingly positioned for higher earnings per share, short rates and bond yields, albeit alongside a lower US dollar.

However, "treasuries and bunds hinting at 'growth scare' makes stocks vulnerable; LIBOR leading to tighter financial conditions, higher US dollar required to ding tech and Emerging Markets," the bank said.

Even so, their Bull&Bear indicator slipped from a reading of 6.8 to 6.5, which meant it was no longer in 'sell' territory.

In the background, markets were also expectant ahead of the US Federal Reserve's next policy meeting on 20-21 March.

In economic news, homebuilding fell more than expected across America last month as a dive in the number of multi-family housing units being started offset a second consecutive monthly increase in single-family projects, according to a reading on US housing starts and permits from the Commerce Department.

Housing starts declined 7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23m, Commerce said, and data for January was revised up to a groundbreaking increase of 1.329m instead of the previously reported 1.326m.

US industrial production rose the most it had in the last four months in February thanks to strong output gains in the manufacturing and oil and gas sectors, with total industrial production, which includes that from factories, mines and utilities across the nation, expanding by 1.1% during the month, topping analysts expectations for a more reserved 0.4% gain, the Federal Reserve said on Friday.

Also released on Friday, the JOLTS labour market survey for January revealed that the number of American's counted as not in the labour force dropped by 653,000 in February, while the labour force itself increased by 806,000.

The unemployment rate has been at 4.1% since October, its lowest reading since December 2000.

Lastly, US consumers confidence hit a 14-year high in March, as lower-income households were said to feeling more optimistic about the nation's economy, according to the University of Michigan, which said the preliminary result of its consumer-sentiment index came in at 102.0 for March, up from the 99.7 posted in February.

Meanwhile, in corporate news, Johnson & Johnson was down a mere 0.01% after it announced that Platinum Equity had offered to purchase its Life Scan unit for $2.1bn.

Jewellery retailer Tiffany & Co was up 4.43% after posting a fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.67 (consensus: $1.63) on the back of a stronger-than-expected 1% rise in like-for-like sales.