LIVE MARKETS-The bear can wait: Wall Street starts green as bargain shoppers emerge

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THE BEAR CAN WAIT: WALL STREET STARTS GREEN AS BARGAIN SHOPPERS EMERGE

U.S. stocks sputtered into positive territory on Wednesday as investors weighed the ongoing trade drama with the gnawing suspicion that the week-long selloff could be overplayed.

It took about ten minutes for the three major U.S. equity indexes to decide on a direction - up - with rebounding tech .SPLRCT shares, including a robust "magnificent seven" rally, putting the Nasdaq .IXIC out front.

Growth .IGX is holding sway over value .IVX and the FANG+ group of tech-adjacent momentum stocks .NYFANG jumping >2%.

In the latest round of U.S. President Donald Trump's market-rattling global trade war, Beijing punched back hard, slapping an 84% duty on American goods, a 50 percentage point hike from its previously announced 34%.

Since last Wednesday's close, when Trump held his "liberation day" tariff unveiling in a White House ceremony, the S&P 500 has lunged 12.1% as of Tuesday's close, which dragged the bellwether index 18.9% below its February 19 record closing high. Closing 20% below the February 19 level would confirm the index has been in a bear market since then.

Wednesday's economic data was sparse, but it did show mortgage rates touching near six-month lows, prompting a 20% surge in home loan applications.

Speaking of interest rates, traders now see a growing likelihood U.S. Federal Reserve will cut its key policy rate in June as chaos stemming from the trade war continues to roil markets and push the U.S. economy closer to recession.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said the tariff kerfuffle threatens to unanchor inflation expectations.

"The hurdle to change the federal funds rate one way or the other has increased due to tariffs," Kashkari said. "As recent weeks have reminded us, nothing is certain and no monetary policy response, up or down, should be completely off the table."

Here's where things stood at 10:02 EDT:

(Stephen Culp)

FOR WEDNESDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

AMID ELEVATED VOLATILITY, BENCHMARK TREASURY YIELD VAULTS - CLICK HERE

GERMAN BUNDS THE ULTIMATE SAFE HAVEN - CLICK HERE

LOOKING FOR TARIFF BUSTERS? - CLICK HERE

DOLLAR, TREASURIES AND S&P 500 - SOME NUMBERS - CLICK HERE

LESS PANICKED THAN EARLIER, BUT THAT'S A LOW BAR - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: SHARE SELLOFF RESUMES, TREASURIES IN FOCUS - CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: MARKETS COWER AS 104% TARIFFS ON CHINA BEGIN - CLICK HERE