* Express Scripts jumps after Cigna's
* Tech, industrial stocks lead advancers
* Indexes up: Dow 0.54 pct, S&P 0.37 pct, Nasdaq 0.49 pct(Updates to open)
By Sruthi Shankar
March 8 (Reuters) -
Worries over the likelihood of a global trade war triggeredby Trump's tariff plans have dominated markets since lastThursday, with chief economic adviser Gary Cohn's exitheightening such concerns.
But a White House spokeswoman's announcement that Trump'stariffs plan may include "potential carve-outs for
"Anything that would suggest a little bit of a roll backfrom the tariffs is viewed as positive," said Scott Brown, chiefeconomist at Raymond James in
Trump had been expected to sign a proclamation imposing 25percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminumlater in the day, but this could slide into Friday.
The plan has faced with strong opposition from most of keypartners, with
By 9:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Averagerose 0.54 percent to 24,935.79. The S&P 500 gained 0.37percent to 2,736.94 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.49percent to 7,432.77.
Express Scripts was among the top boosts to the S&P500, rising 14 percent after health insurer Cigna agreedto buy the pharmacy benefits manager for
The deal boosted the S&P healthcare index, up 0.29percent. But the top gainers were industrials andtechnology stocks.
Kroger fell 8.8 percent after the supermarket chainissued a disappointing full-year profit forecast.
American Eagle Outfitters turned 9 percent lowerafter trading up premarket.
A Labor Department report showed initial jobless claimsrebounded from a more than 48-year low last week, but the trendcontinued to point to robust labor market conditions.
A comprehensive reading on jobs and wage is expected onFriday. The average hourly earnings is expected to slow to 2.8percent in February on an annualized basis, from 2.9 percent inJanuary.
Investors are worried that higher wages could lead to fasterinterest rate increases by the Federal Reserve and makeborrowing expensive for companies.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,835to 606. On the Nasdaq, 1,641 issues rose and 655 fell.(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; additional reportingby Parikshit Mishra; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)