US stocks trade with modest gains, still on track for weekly losses

Major US equity indices held on to modest gains during the early hour of trading on Friday as investors assessed the latest US political jitters.

Various news reports have been suggesting departure of national security adviser H.R. McMaster and would add to the recent list of high-profile exits from the White House. Against the backdrop of a possible global trade war, which remains a dominant theme in the markets, political uncertainty might continue to dampen investors’ appetite for riskier assets - like equities. 

Traders, however, seemed to have shrugged off these worries, for the momentum, and focus on the quadruple-witching day - where simultaneous expiration of stock-index futures, stock-index options, single-stock futures and stock options could infuse some fresh bout of volatility. 

Despite early modest gains, further supported by today’s upbeat industrial production data and prelim UoM consumer sentiment index, all the three major indices remain on track for a weekly loss of around 1% to 2% as of Thursday's close.