Stocks point cautiously higher as trade tensions ease – Fox Business

Equity futures are trading cautiously higher after a day that saw mixed results on Wall Street.

Dow Industrial and Nasdaq futures are higher by 0.1 percent, while S&P 500 futures are little changed.

There are some signs of easing tensions between the U.S. and China on trade issues.

China released a list of U.S. products that will be exempt from tariffs starting September 17.

Those items will not be subject to additional tariffs imposed by China as countermeasures to U.S. actions, according to Chinese media.

Japan’s Nikkei closed the day up 0.96 percent to a six week high.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.8 percent for the day and China’s Shanghai Composite ended down 0.4 percent.

The U.S. market has been gaining ground for two weeks as investors remain confident in the strength of the economy, despite the lingering trade war between the U.S. and China.

The S&P 500 index inched up less than 0.1 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, slid less than 0.1 percent.

In Europe on Wednesday, London’s FTSE aadded 0.9 percent on hopes of monetary stimulus from central banks, with the European Central Bank meeting Thursday. Germany’s DAX was up 0.7 pervcent. France CAC was higher by 0.4 percent.

The Labor Department will report the latest consumer price index figures on Thursday and the Commerce Department will report August retail sales data on Friday.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Economists continue to expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its meeting next week to help maintain U.S. economic growth.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.