Stocks open higher on Wall Street, adding to their gains for the week

NEW YORK AP Stocks are edging higher in early trading on Wall Street adding to their gains for the week The S P was up in the first sparse minutes of trading Wednesday The index erased the remainder of its losses for a day earlier The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up points or and the Nasdaq composite was up Markets a got massive boost earlier this week after the U S and China agreed to a -day pause in their exchange war American Eagle Outfitters slumped about after becoming the latest company to pull its financial forecasts THIS IS A URGENT NEWS UPDATE AP s earlier story follows below Wall Street bounced between small gains and losses in meek trading early Wednesday ahead of the new retail sales numbers this week and any hints from Federal Reserve agents about the U S central bank s future interest rate decisions Futures for the S P rose before the bell while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose There s still particular relief in markets after the U S and China agreed Monday to a -day pause in their business war to allow for negotiations How that pause will influence the Fed s next interest rate decision remains cloudy In light of Tuesday s details showing that inflation cooled for third straight month in April Fed functionaries would have likely been leaning toward restarting interest rate cuts in the absence of tariffs The fed cut its benchmark rate three times last year but has since frozen rates while it awaits further evidence of how the tariffs and other program changes such as immigration restrictions and foreseen tax cuts affect the financial system Investors and economists will be paying close attention to a community appearances by two Fed bureaucrats Wednesday Fed governor Christopher Waller and Philip Jefferson the Fed s vice chair and a top lieutenant to Jerome Powell followed by a speech by Powell himself at a conference in Washington on Thursday Also Thursday the establishment reports its latest evidence on retail sales in the U S and Walmart the world s biggest retailer reports quarterly earnings Investors may be more interested in the retail giant s forecast than its results as several companies withdraw their financial guidance for due to uncertainty over President Donald Trump s tariffs American Eagle Outfitters became the latest retailer to do so late Tuesday which sent its shares tumbling more than before the opening bell Wednesday The retailer stated it would write down million in spring and summer merchandise and that it expects first-quarter revenue to slide or more than billion In Asian trading Chinese markets rallied on expectations of another rush in export orders during the -day grace period for China-U S tariffs Hong Kong s Hang Seng jumped to while the Shanghai Composite gained to Chinese tech companies made big gains with games and entertainment giant Tencent Holdings up search engine company Baidu up and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings advancing Japan s benchmark Nikkei lost to finish at Australia s S P ASX rose to South Korea s Kospi surged to The relief over the agreement truce between the U S and China is tepid among global businesses and investors given uncertainty over how long it might last and where tariffs might go in the months ahead The hope is that Trump will ease his stiff tariffs on trading partners worldwide before they create a recession and send inflation spiking higher In Europe at midday France s CAC slipped while Germany s DAX fell Britain s FTSE was essentially unchanged Benchmark U S crude fell cents to a barrel following a four-day rally Brent crude the international standard declined cents to a barrel The U S dollar edged down to Japanese yen from yen The euro cost up from