Investing.com – Wall Street rose on Wednesday as concerns over global trade waned.
The S&P 500 was up seven points or 0.26% to 2,755.92 as of 9:44 AM ET (13:44 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 123 points or 0.50% to 24,923.28 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose 16 points or 0.22% to 7,654.29.
The U.S. trade deficit fell to a seven-month low in April as exports rose to a record high, showing recent trade disputes between the U.S. and China have had little impact on trade.
Still, trade negotiations remain in focus, as China and the U.S. have come head-to-head in recent months over trade and tariff negotiations, prompting worry of a full-scale trade war.
Meanwhile the European Union announced retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. would go into effect in July, after President Donald Trump went ahead with planned metal tariffs against key U.S. allies.
Luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, jumping 5.20% after optimistic comments from CEO Elon Musk. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 0.93% while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was up 0.88% and Snap surged 3.87%.
Elsewhere Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) fell 1.02% amid news that it had given user data to Chinese firms, including Huawei, while Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) dipped 0.60% and First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) slumped 5.24%.
In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX rose 13 points or 0.10% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 25 points or 0.46% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up one point or 0.01%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 12 points or 0.35% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rallied 40 points or 0.42%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.08% to $1,303.30 troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.41% to $65.25 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.44% to 93.44.