Wall Street opens modestly higher led by financials

• Trade optimism allows risk-off flows to control market action.
• The rebound in the United States (US) Treasury bond yields help financial shares gain traction.
• Investors largely ignored today's macroeconomic data releases from the US.

Major equity indexes in the United States started the day in the positive territory on Friday supported by the positive remarks on the US-China trade dispute ahead of next month's high-level talks in Washington. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were adding 0.2% and 0.05%, respectively.

After posting losses on Thursday, the 10-year US T-bond yield gained traction and advanced into the positive territory to lift the rate-sensitive S&P 500 Financials Index, which was last up 1% on the day. 

On the other hand, the upbeat sentiment seems to be weighing on the defensive Real Estate and Utilities indexes, which were both losing around 0.5% in the early trade.

Meanwhile, today's data from the US showed that Personal Income rose 0.4% on a monthly basis in August while Personal Spending only increased 0.1% in the same period. Furthermore, the core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Price Index rose to 1.8% in August from 1.7% in July but failed to trigger a significant market reaction.