WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved notably higher in early trading on Tuesday but have given back some ground over the course of the morning. While the major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the young session, they remain in positive territory.
Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains. The Dow is up 60.46 points or 0.2 percent at 25,646.15, the Nasdaq is up 25.02 points or 0.3 percent at 7,662.03 and the S&P 500 is up 6.65 points or 0.2 percent at 2,832.71.
The initial strength on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump expressed optimism the U.S. and China will eventually reach a trade agreement.
'I think, sometime in the future, China and the United States will absolutely have a great trade deal. And we look forward to that,' Trump during a trip to Japan over the weekend.
Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as Trump also said U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods could 'go up very, very substantially, very easily.'
Trump also said the U.S. is 'not ready to make a deal' and suggested China probably wishes 'they made the deal that they had on the table before they tried to renegotiate it.'
Light trading activity may contribute to some volatility as the day progresses, with some traders still away from their desks following the long weekend.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Conference Board showed another substantial improvement in consumer confidence in the month of May.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged up to 134.1 in May after jumping to 129.2 in April. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 129.8.
Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, although some strength is visible among software and steel stocks.
Meanwhile, tobacco stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index down by 2.6 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have rebounded following the pullback seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.7 basis points at 2.287 percent.
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