NEW YORK, Sept 24 — Wall Street stocks rose early today, with large technology companies advancing following a favourable court ruling for Google and a positive Apple analyst report.

Market watchers also attributed the gains to greater optimism on the US-China trade outlook after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed more talks would take place next month.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 27,061.39, up 0.4 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent to 3,005.53, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index had also gained 0.5 per cent at 8,150.91.

Among individual companies, Google parent Alphabet advanced one per cent after the European Court of Justice ruled that the company is not required to apply an EU "right to be forgotten” to its search engine domains outside Europe.

Apple jumped 1.5 per cent following a report from Jefferies that lifted the company’s price target from US$210 (RM877) per share to US$260.

The increase in markets came after US stocks finished flat yesterday.

After three straight weeks of gains, US equities fell last week amid worries over trade and jitters around the Federal Reserve’s plans for stimulus.

Market watchers are awaiting release later today of the Conference Board’s report on consumer confidence, which could provide clues as to whether increased worries of a recession will chill spending by shoppers. — AFP