US open: Stocks go green at the open despite the dollar being 'dealt a Donald' overnight
Wall Street trading began with all major indexes in the green on Tuesday despite Donald Trump's best efforts to talk down the dollar.
At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones was ahead 0.29% to 25,8345.45, while the S&P had picked up 0.35% to 2,867.03 as the Nasdaq moved 0.56% firmer to 7,865.09.
The Dow Jones climbed 80 points after the bell, knocking on the door of 25,850, 900 points away from January’s all-time high. However, as SpreadEx's Connor Campbell pointed out, the index "really needs" the week’s US-China talks to go the right way, or "it could find its rise coming to an abrupt halt".
The US dollar weakened overnight after Trump criticised the Federal Reserve again for lifting interest rates. In an interview with Reuters, Trump said the Fed should do "what's good for the country".
"Of course it helps that the dollar was dealt a Donald overnight, a Donald being any kind of blow stemming from President Trump’s irascible nature. With the POTUS complaining about the Federal Reserve’s recently rate-rising ways – remember, the central bank is still on track for 2 more hikes in 2018 – the greenback took a tumble, plunging 0.7% against the pound and 0.5% against the euro. That left cable near $1.287 and the single currency above $1.15, both near fortnightly highs," said Campbell.
Trump also accused Europe and China of manipulating their currencies again. The US President claimed China was doing so to make up for having to pay US tariffs. He also said he does not expect much from the US-China trade talks later this week and that he has no time frame for ending the dispute.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "Two problems beset investors this morning, and both (unsurprisingly) emanate from the White House. First, Trump's interview with Reuters regarding his low expectations for the China talks, while a sensible position to take ahead of the talks, seems to suggest the president is happy to keep this pot boiling over for the foreseeable future, applying pressure to a Chinese government that is trying to battle tariff wars and manage a fundamental realignment of the national economy."
"The second issue is his public criticism of the Fed - while we should be used to it by now, it has come at just the right point to unnerve the late-comers to the dollar rally," added Beauchamp.
In corporate news, Kohl's dipped 2.84% in early trade despite the department store chain's second-quarter earnings beating profit and sales expectations, while food manufacturer JM Smucker lost 3.74% after its quarterly sales missed expectations.
Coty tumbled 9.56% in early trade after the beauty products maker's quarterly sales fell short of estimates.
Elsewhere, medical device company Medtronic picked up 4.23% at the open after it reported a 6% jump in quarterly profit, while housebuilder Toll Brothers surged 10.54% after it lifted its revenue forecast following better-than-expected quarterly numbers.