US open: Stocks trade higher as stimulus talks remain firmly in focus
Major US indices were all in the green after the bell on Tuesday as stimulus talks remained in focus for another session.
As of 1540 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.39% at 28,257.58, while the S&P 500 was 0.12% firmer at 3,412.76 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.06% stronger at 11,338.75.
The Dow opened 108.94 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session as stocks had their strongest session in weeks while market participants continued to track talks on Capitol Hill and the health of the President, who was discharged from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and returned to the White House.
Tuesday's focus was again primarily centred on stimulus talks between Republicans and Democrats, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's spokesman stating she was set to meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin after the two failed to reach an agreement on a new package a day earlier.
SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said: "Now that Trump, irresponsibly or otherwise, is out of hospital and back at the White House, hopes appear to have been stirred that the Democrats and Republicans can finally – FINALLY – get a new Covid-19 stimulus package over the line. That is unless the number of Covid-19 cases on Capitol Hill continues to grow.
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to engage in talks once again this Tuesday, so investors will be keeping an eye on any updates emanating from Washington."
On the macro front, the US trade deficit in goods and services continued to grow in August, according to the Commerce Department, growing 5.9% month-on-month to $67.1bn - the highest monthly level since 2006.
Elsewhere, job openings fell in August for the first time in four months as a result of a decreased level of openings in the construction and retail sectors, according to the Labor Department's job opening and labour turnover survey. Job openings fell by 204,000 to 6.49m on the last day of August, marking the first monthly decline since April, while vacancies remained below the level of 7.0m in February.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell will make a speech at 1540 BST, where he was expected to tell the National Association of Business Economists that further stimulus will be required to keep the US economy from stalling.
Fed presidents Patrick Harker and Robert Kaplan will also deliver comments later in the day.
In the corporate space, big tech stocks were being closely watched after reports that a Democrat-led House panel would call for an effective breakup of giants like Apple, Amazon and Alphabet following a long anti-trust investigation.
Levi Strauss & Co will report earnings after the close.