NEW YORK, Sept 19 — Wall Street stocks were mostly higher early today, taking a broadly benign view of lingering trade fights, including the escalating US-China battle.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 per cent at 26,369.09.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.1 per cent to 2,908.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1 per cent to 7,948.85.

China rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that it was it was tailoring retaliatory tariffs goods with an eye towards hitting the US president in the upcoming midterm elections.

It called on the United States to show "respect” to China a day after both countries announced new tariffs on each other.

US stocks scored solid gains on Tuesday following the tit-for-tat policies, a sign of the market’s underlying bullishness.

Market watchers were also monitoring trade talks between Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. — AFP