US open: Mixed start to trading as Dow Jones S&P 500 flirt with record highs
Wall Street trading began on a mixed note on Friday, with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 near all-time highs but the Nasdaq lagging behind.
As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.23% at 27,246.13 and the S&P 500 was ahead 0.14% at 3,013.83. The Nasdaq Composite on the other hand started out the session 0.03% weaker at 8,192.21.
The Dow opened 63.68 points stronger on Friday after closing out the previous session with gains following news that Donald Trump had agreed to hold off on additional tariff increases on Chinese goods for two weeks as a "gesture of goodwill".
While only recording small gains at the bell, the Dow was still flirting with the notion of surpassing its intraday record high of 27,398.68 and an eighth straight day of gains, while the S&P 500 was fast approaching its own record of 3,027.98.
Focus throughout the session was expected to continue to be on trade developments between the US and China, with Donald Trump claiming that Beijing would be making purchases of "large amounts" of agricultural products.
China's official Xinhua News Agency reported earlier that China's State Council was planning to exclude some agricultural products, such as soybeans and pork, from additional tariffs on US goods.
However, Markets.com's chief market analyst Neil Wilson warned that a trade deal was likely still a long way off.
"Trump says he would consider an interim deal - maybe, maybe not, you just don't know what's truth amid all the fake news," he said.
On the data front, the US consumer continued to splash out at a greater than anticipated pace last month, although outside of automobiles and building materials they softened a tad.
According to the Department of Commerce, retail sales volumes grew at a 0.4% month-on-month pace in August to reach $526.06bn (consensus: 0.2%).
Elsewhere, import and export prices both fell last month, on the back of sharp declines in the cost of fuel and agricultural goods.
According to the Department of Labor, the US import price index dropped at a 0.5% month-on-month pace in August, matching the consensus forecast.
On the export side of the equation, a 2.5% drop in the price of agricultural goods accounted for the lion's share of the 0.6% decline seen in the price of exports overall.
Business inventories rose 0.4% across the US in July, according to the Department of Commerce, while sales rose 0.3% and the ratio of inventories to sales remained flat at 1.40.
Lastly, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose more than expected to 92 from 89.8 in August as consumers began to feel more confident about the US' current and future economic prospects.
In corporate news, trade bellwethers Caterpillar and Boeing flew higher at the open, while Apple slumped after Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the tech giant.