US STOCKS-Wall Street edges higher on tariff delay hopes

Wall Street's indexes edged higher in choppy trading on Tuesday after a report that the United States and China were planning to delay a new round of tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15. Officials from both sides also hinted at extending their trade talks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

With the trade war continuing to take a toll on global growth, markets have been hoping for a delay in tariffs and looking for positive headlines on the talks. "I think that both sides are going to find a way to delay the imposition of new tariffs on Dec. 15," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.

"We just don't know if that is true right now that is why the market has been acting skittishly. I think that we are still waiting for the news." Apple Inc, shares of which are often sensitive to the news on trade, gained 1%. The broader S&P 500 technology sector rose by 0.4%.

The communication services sector slipped, weighed down by Netflix Inc's 1.7% fall after Needham downgraded the company's shares to "underperform". The Federal Open Market Committee's two-day policy meeting kicks off on Tuesday and investors are expecting updates from the central bank on its 2020 economic outlook.

The S&P 500 is up 25% so far this year, boosted by the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts and some relief over corporate profits. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 9.73 points, or 0.03%, at 27,919.33, the S&P 500 was up 2.70 points, or 0.09%, at 3,138.66 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 17.49 points, or 0.20%, at 8,639.32.

On other trade-related development, Canada, Mexico, and the United States agreed to a fresh overhaul of their quarter-century-old regional trade pact after negotiators approved changes to a preliminary deal struck last year and officials will sign the new agreement on Tuesday. Shares in Autozone Inc jumped 6.7% after the auto parts retailer beat quarterly estimates for profit. Shares of peers Advance Auto Parts and O'Reilly Automotive also rose.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.20-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 53 new highs and 39 new lows.

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