Stocks Climbed ahead of U.S.-China Trade Talks

U.S. stocks edged higher in early trade on Thursday, as high-level trade negotiations between the U.S. and China kick off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 36.31 points, or 0.14%, to 26,382.32. The S&P 500 added 4.88 points, or 0.17%, to 2,924.28. The Nasdaq Composite gained 17.18 points, or 0.22%, to 7,920.93.

Oil futures edged higher in choppy price action Thursday as traders attempted to make sense of conflicting news reports around U.S.-China trade talks and parsed OPEC’s monthly assessment of global supply and demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $52.82 a barrel. December Brent crude gained 10 cents, or 0.2%, to trade at $58.42 a barrel.