US stocks advance ahead of health vote

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Friday ahead of a key congressional vote on health care seen as an early test of President Donald Trump's agenda.

Trump turned up the heat on Republican House members in a series of tweets Friday morning, threatening to keep former president Barack Obama's health care program in place if the congressional vote fails to pass a replacement.

Republican lawmakers have derided Obamacare since it was approved in 2010, but had to delay the vote set for Thursday when they did not have enough support in the party to approve the replacement.

A tally of House Republicans by the Washington Post based on their public statements suggested the rescheduled vote Friday would fail.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 20,685.97, up 0.1 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.3 percent to 2,352.09, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6 percent to 5,849.82.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare attributed the market's gains to a sense that Trump's ultimatum meant, regardless of the outcome of the health care vote, Washington would soon shift focus to other policies the market desires, such as tax reform.

"That resilience is being attributed to the thinking 'yes' or 'no,' there will be an increased emphasis on getting a tax deal done," O'Hare said.

TransCanada rose 1.3 percent after the Trump administration gave it final approval to build the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. However, the company still needs authorities and residents to grant the necessary permits and approvals to construct the pipeline.