LIVE MARKETS-US stocks cheer expected trade deal with Britain

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U.S. STOCKS CHEER EXPECTED TRADE DEAL WITH BRITAIN

U.S. stock indexes are higher early on Thursday on news that the United States was on the verge of signing a trade agreement with Britain, while chip stocks rose on the prospect of fewer export curbs on AI semiconductors.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Britain would announce a trade deal at 10 a.m. ET to lower tariffs on some goods. If it goes through, the agreement would be the first since he paused the country-specific tariffs imposed on world economies last month.

With this, most S&P 500 .SPX sectors are green with energy .SPNY, consumer discretionary .SPLRCD, and communication services .SPLRCL all rising more than 1%. Just utilities .SPLRCU and healthcare .SPXHC are negative.

Under the surface, banks .SPXBK, .KRX, and chips .SOX are among outperformers, while gold stocks .HUI are lower.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood about 10 minutes into the trading day:

(Terence Gabriel)

FOR THURSDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

CHIP STOCKS POWERING UP ON THE CHARTS CLICK HERE

US BULLS SAY ECONOMY WILL BOOM NO MATTER WHAT CLICK HERE

ALPHABET SHORT-SELLERS CLOCKED MORE THAN $800 MILLION IN PROFITS ON WEDNESDAY'S SLIDE CLICK HERE

MOVING ON UP CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: DEAL TIME CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: ARMED CONFLICTS RAGE, BUT HOPES EMERGE FOR A TRADE WAR THAW CLICK HERE