US stocks edge higher on trade progress, inflation data
NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks edged higher early Wednesday after US and Chinese officials touted progress on trade talks and US consumer inflation rose modestly.
US President Donald Trump said 'our deal with China is done' after two days of talks in London, while noting in a social media post that provisions on rare earths and allowing Chinese students at US universities were subject to presidential approval.
Meanwhile, the US consumer price index came in at 2.4 percent from a year ago after a 2.3 percent reading in April, a modest uptick that analysts said still did not fully reflect the impact from Trump's tariffs.
About five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 42,861.97.
Wall St muted as investors track progress of US-China trade talks
The broad-based S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent to 6,041.15, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1 percent to 19,743.54.
Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities described the developments as good news for stocks, but added that the inflation figures will probably not alter the Federal Reserve's wait-and-see posture on monetary policy.
'I still don't think that today's inflation data will change the minds of the Fed to remain cautious,' Cardillo said.
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