US stocks have changed little in opening trade as the market sought to keep alive a winning streak that has recovered most of December’s losses.

Five minutes into trade on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,779.62, up 1.47 points (0.01 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 added 2.60 (0.13 per cent) at 2,063.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 4.30 (0.09 per cent) to 4,744.09.

Wall Street stocks have skyrocketed the last two days, spurred by a Federal Reserve meeting Wednesday at which the US central bank said it would be “patient” before raising interest rates.

The two-day rally restored most of the 4.6 per cent December decline in the S&P 500 that stood through Tuesday, said Patrick O’Hare, analyst at Briefing.com.

“It has been an amazing turn in a short period of time, yet it is indicative of the nature of this stock market which has endured for six years with the fed funds rate at the zero bound,” he said.