US stocks edged higher on Tuesday, led by financial and energy stocks, as the United States and China made progress on ironing out their trade differences and reach an agreement. Washington neared a deal to lift its ban on US firms supplying Chinese telecoms gear maker ZTE Corp, sources said on Tuesday, while Beijing said it will steeply cut import tariffs for automobiles and car parts.
That pushed up shares of Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler between 0.6 percent and 1.3 percent, but the broader industrial sector dipped 0.4 percent, a day after posting its best one-day percent gain in nearly two months as the China-US trade spat was put "on hold". The consumer discretionary index fell 0.2 percent on disappointing quarterly reports from retailer Kohl's and homebuilder Toll Brothers.
"I don't think today there is any news that's particularly concerning other than disappointing guidance from Kohl's and disappointing results from Toll Brothers," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. "I don't think it's anything other than some profit taking."
At 11:53 am EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 30.45 points, or 0.12 percent, at 24,982.84, the S&P 500 was up 3.56 points, or 0.13 percent, at 2,736.57 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 4.93 points, or 0.07 percent, at 7,398.96.Eight of the 11 major indexes were trading higher. The financials sector gained 0.9 percent on hopes that a bill aimed at easing rules, put in place after the financial crisis, could be passed into law as soon as this week, helping banks.
The energy sector advanced 0.6 percent as oil prices rose on supply concerns. Among stocks, Micron jumped 6.7 percent after the company announced a $10 billion share buyback program.