NEW YORK, May 12 — Wall Street stocks edged higher early today, extending a period of directionless trading as markets weigh uncertainty surrounding the lifting of the US debt ceiling.

The White House said yesterday that crunch talks between President Biden and Republican congressional leaders would be postponed until early next week to allow staff to continue working.

Stocks have been trading essentially sideways this week. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the US could be unable to pay bills as soon as June 1.

The markets expect that if there is a default, "that it will be very short, like maybe a few days or something like that. I don't think that anybody expects that that will last very long," said LBBW's Karl Haeling.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 33,348.85.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 percent at 4,138.41, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.1 per cent to 12,341.41.

Regional banking shares were mixed, with beaten-down PacWest Bancorp higher, along with Western Alliance Bancorporation. But First Horizon and Fifth Third Bancorp dipped. — AFP