By Will Horner and Alexander Osipovich

U.S. stocks climbed, boosted by hopes for progress toward a U.S.-China trade deal.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each gained 0.2% in late-morning trading on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%.

The gains came after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview that there was "a path to complete" a trade deal between the U.S. and China. He also said that a deal had previously been "about 90%" done.

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at the G-20 summit in Japan later this week, in what is seen by analysts as an important moment in the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

The market reaction to Mr. Mnuchin's comments was muted as investors are awaiting tangible results from the talks, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. "It's hard to take too much out of his comments," Mr. Arone said. "There's a bit of posturing ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting."

Energy stocks were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 on Wednesday, boosted by a jump in the price of oil. Benchmark U.S. crude oil futures rose 2.8% to $59.46 a barrel after government data showed a steeper-than-expected drop in inventories, a sign of strong demand.

Tech stocks also climbed, boosted by trade-sensitive semiconductor stocks. Micron Technology soared 14% after the memory-chip maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results after Tuesday's close. The company also said it had resumed shipments to Huawei after determining they didn't run afoul of U.S. curbs on exports to the Chinese telecom giant.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.030% Wednesday, from 1.994% Tuesday. Bond yields rise as prices fall.

The gains in equities marked a reversal from Tuesday, after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell defended the central bank's independence, pushing back against signals from financial markets and calls from President Trump to lower interest rates. Mr. Powell said officials would ease monetary policy only if data showed a sustained downward trend in the U.S. economy.

President Trump slammed Mr. Powell on Wednesday. "He's not doing a good job," Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network. "He has to lower interest rates for us to compete with China."

New Commerce Department data showed that demand for long-lasting goods produced by U.S. factories decreased in May for the third time in four months, underscoring a broader slowdown in U.S. manufacturing. Expectations that a weakening economy would spur the Fed to cut rates have driven stocks higher over the past months.

Bitcoin extended its meteoric rise, approaching $13,000 for the first time in around a year and a half. The cryptocurrency has rallied since Facebook said last week it planned to launch its own digital currency. Bitcoin was recently trading at $12,832.89.

Gold fell 0.4% to $1,412.70 a troy ounce, reversing a four-day rally that had lifted the price of the precious metal to its highest level since 2013.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 was roughly flat. Asian markets were slightly lower or close to flat, with Japan's Nikkei posting the largest decline of 0.5%.

Write to Alexander Osipovich at alexander.osipovich@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2019 12:10 ET (16:10 GMT)

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