Wall Street opens sharply higher boosted by strong earnings and trade optimism

As signalled by the upbeat performance of S&P 500 Futures, major equity indexes in the U.S. rebounded strongly on Wednesday following yesterday's heavy sell-off. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was gaining 1.2% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively.

Strong earnings figures from IBM, Procter & Gamble and United Technologies on Wednesday helped ease concerns over an economic slowdown in the United States and boosted the market sentiment. In fact, the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, was last seen down 4% on the day. Additionally, Kevin Hassett, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN that he was confident about the U.S. and China reaching a trade agreement by the March 1 deadline. 

Among 11 major S&P 500 sectors, Consumer Staples, Technology, and Industrials all add more than 1% in the early trade to reflect the positive impact of the earnings data. Energy seems to be the only sector that stays in the negative territory dragged by a modest fall in crude oil prices.