NEW YORK, Dec 21 — Beaten-down Wall Street stocks bounced early today despite the possibility of a US government shutdown, as Nike shares surged on strong earnings.

After two straight routs, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6 per cent at 22,993.11 about 10 minutes into trading.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent to 2,478.50, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 6,552.88.

President Donald Trump doubled down on threats for a partial government shutdown, saying the closure would be "very long” if lawmakers don’t back down and agree to fund his much-desired wall on the US border with Mexico.

Trump and congressional Democrats remain far apart as a midnight Friday deadline looms to approve funds to keep the entire US government up and running. If there is no deal, several key agencies will shut down.

The government revised its estimate for third-quarter US growth downward slightly to 3.4 per cent from the prior 3.5 per cent, while new orders for durable goods in November rose 0.8 per cent but missed analyst expectations.

Dow member Nike jumped 8.4 per cent after reporting a 10.4 per cent increase in quarterly earnings to US$847 million (RM3.5 billion).

The sports apparel and footwear company said it remained bullish on China, where it has seen huge sales growth and — so far — no fallout from an ongoing trade row between Washington and Beijing. — AFP