Wall Street opens higher on US-China trade optimism

US stock indices opened the last session of the week higher on optimism towards US-China trade negotiations, after reports US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is discussing potential plans to lift some or all of the newly-imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. 

Muchin is allegedly suggesting a back-down from imposing new tariffs scheduled for January 30 according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which was then disputed by the Treasury Department's spokesman. 

Other reports indicated China is making suggestions to shave to the US-China trade imbalance, including a buying spree for the next six years of US products to over a trillion dollars, after China's trade surplus with America reached $323 billion last year. 

Otherwise, earlier US data showed industrial production rose 0.3% in December, slowing down from 0.4% while edging estimates of 0.2%. 

The capacity utilization rate rose to 78.7% from 78.6%, while analysts expected no change. 

Stock Performance 

As of 03:49 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.94%, or 24.75 points to 2,660.71, while Dow Jones rallied 0.82%, or 200 points to 24,570.10. 

Tech-heavy Nasdaq spiked 0.88%, or 62.29 points to 7,146.75.