Dow Opens Higher on Economic Relief Progress, U.S.-China Talks

By Christiana Sciaudone

Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened higher with progress on a new round of economic relief being seen and the U.S. and China agreeing to meet over trade later this month.

By 9:33 AM ET (1333 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 96 points or 0.36%. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.06%.

The U.S. private sector added 167,000 jobs in July, according to a report by payrolls processor ADP, slowing sharply from the prior month as the resurgence in Covid-19 cases halted the reopening of businesses in a number of states.

Analysts polled by Investing.com had expected the private sector to have added 1.5 million jobs last month.

After more than a week of heated discussions, negotiations on a new round of coronavirus relief have begun to move in the right direction, though the two sides remain far apart, the U.S. Senate's top Democrat said on Tuesday. Hopes are rising that a deal could be reached by the end of the week and approved as early as the following week.

The U.S. and China have agreed to get together in the middle of August to review the phase one trade agreement they signed earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday.

Tensions between the two countries have risen sharply for a number of reasons, including China's handling of the coronavirus, U.S. sanctions related to China's security crackdown on Hong Kong, and President Donald Trump’s threat to ban the popular social app TikTok in the U.S.

Johnson&Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was slightly higher in early trading after saying it has a deal worth more than $1 billion with the U.S. to develop and deliver 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine.

In earnings news, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) rose 6.6% after the entertainment giant surprised the Street with a quarterly adjusted profit despite the Covid-19 pandemic shutting its parks and movie theaters.

Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) rose 10% after the payments processor reported on Tuesday a 64% jump in second-quarter revenue.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 0.3% after Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) downgraded its investment stance on the iPhone maker to “neutral,” citing a slowdown in sales growth of these phones.

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