Wall Street opens with moderate gains led by energy

Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day modestly higher on Friday led by strong gains recorded in energy shares. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were adding 0.3% and 0.33%, respectively.

A more-than-1% increase in the price of the barrel of West Texas Intermediate boosted the S&P 500 Energy sector, which was the best performing major sector at the momentum with a daily gain of 0.8%. On the other hand, the S&P 500 Consumer Staples is down 0.8% on the day to limit further potential gains in Wall Street.

Meanwhile, a United States Department of Agriculture official recently crossed the wires saying that the U.S. - China trade talks were "positive," but there still was no clarity from Beijing regarding intellectual property, technology transfer, and structural changes.