Markets on Wall Street inched up quietly early Wednesday as President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium were due to kick in and US and European trade officials met in Paris to negotiate their tariff spat.
Futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all rose 0.2 per cent in light trading before the bell, reports AP.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top trade negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, met Wednesday with his American counterpart, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Šefčovič said talks were "advancing in the right direction at pace.” Few expect Brussels and Washington to reach a substantive trade agreement in Paris because the issues dividing them are too difficult to resolve quickly.
There has been no official update on the status of the steel and aluminium tariffs as of early Wednesday morning. Those tariffs are expected to hit a broad range of businesses hard and likely push up prices for consumers.
Foreign-made steel and aluminium is used in household products like soup cans and paper clips as well as big-ticket items like a stainless-steel refrigerators and cars.
Asian shares shoot higher as US stocks inch toward their records
Hopes remain high on Wall Street that Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will ultimately lower tariffs, particularly with the world’s second-largest economy. The US side said Trump was expecting to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.
In equities trading, Wells Fargo rose 2.5 per cent after the Federal Reserve lifted its asset cap on Tuesday and said the bank is no longer subject to the harsh restraints placed on it in 2018 for having a toxic sales and banking culture.
Shares of Dollar Tree dipped 1.8 per cent before the bell despite Wednesday's strong first-quarter sales and profit report.
Investors were spooked by the discount retailer's forecast, which estimated as much as a 50 per cent drop in second-quarter earnings per share due to cost pressures from higher tariffs.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company that Delta Air Lines has sued for a technology outage last summer, fell seven per cent after it issued lighter second-quarter guidance than analysts were expecting.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris each gained 0.7 per cent, while Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.2 per cent.
South Korea’s Kospi led gains in Asia, jumping 2.7 per cent to 2,770.84 after the liberal opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung was elected president.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index surged 0.8 per cent to 37,747.45 on gains for technology and pharmaceutical companies.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s shares rose 1.9 per cent after it announced it was buying Toyota Industries Corp., a maker of auto parts and lift trucks, for $33 billion and taking it private. Toyota Industries' shares tumbled nearly 12 per cent.
Chinese shares were modestly higher. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.6 per cent to 23,654.03, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.4 per cent to 3,376.20.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.9 per cent higher at 8,541.80.
Taiwan's Taiex climbed 2.3 per cent.
In energy trading, US benchmark crude oil added three cent to $63.44 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose five cents to $65.68 per barrel.
The US dollar rose to 144.19 Japanese yen from 144 yen. The euro rose to $1.1386 from $1.1370.