U.S. stocks headed higher Wednesday midday as a reports the U.S. and China are still working toward a phase-one trade deal helped to offset fears of a delay sparked a day earlier by President Donald Trump’s remarks.
What are stocks doing?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.72% rose 182 points, 0.7%, to 27,684. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.70% was 20 points higher, or 0.6%, trading at 3,113. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.60% jumped 45 points, or 0.5%, at 8,566. All three indexes were off earlier highs.
On Tuesday, the Dow ended 280.23 points lower, down 1%, at 27,502.81, for its biggest one-day drop since Oct. 8. The S&P 500 finished with a loss of 20.67 points, or 0.7%, at 3,093.20, while the Nasdaq retreated 47.34 points, or 0.6%, ending at 8,520.64.
What’s driving the market?
U.S. stock-index benchmarks recovered some of the week’s lost ground after Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar, reported that despite signs of fresh tensions, Beijing and Washington were making progress toward a phase-one trade pact. The comments also helped to provide a lift to European equities also.
Bloomberg’s report said any partial resolution on trade would be completed before another set of China tariffs kicks in on Dec. 15. The news comes after stocks broadly slumped on Tuesday following a President Trump news conference in London, where he indicated there was “no deadline” when it comes to concluding the nearly two-year-old U.S.-China trade spat. He made those comments at a NATO meeting.
“It still baffles me that investors hang on every Trump statement and tweet,” said Craig Erlam, an analyst with OANDA Europe. “His trade deal optimism changes on a near-daily basis and yet investors are very sensitive to it. It is probably a reflection of the relative lack of other talking points.”
Meanwhile, stocks shrugged off a report on U.S. private-sector hiring Wednesday morning. Employers added just 67,000 workers in November, payroll processor ADP said, a much weaker reading than analysts had forecast, made worse by downward revisions to earlier months.
A reading on the service sector of the U.S. economy was mixed: the Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index was at 53.9%, lower than in October, but new orders were at 57.1%, up from 55.6% and signaling stronger demand ahead. A similar survey from IHS Markit for the service sector showed an improvement in November though with its index rising to 51.6 in November from 50.6 in October.
What stocks are in focus?
Expedia Group Inc. EXPE, +6.23% shares skyrocketed 6% after a reshuffle of top executives over ongoing disagreements over strategy.
Shares of Tesla Inc. TSLA, -0.20% moved down 0.2% after an analyst upgrade. Citi analysts said shares were likely to hit $222, up from a previous target of $191, but that still implies a hefty decline for the stock, which closed Tuesday at $336.20.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK, +14.51% saw shares surge nearly 17% after securing a loan facility meant to buy it time as it hunts for paths to profitability.
Shares of Campbell’s Soup CPB, +1.92% were up after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit and a rise in market share although sales were slightly below forecasts and the company cut its 2020 sales growth outlook.
Shares of Alphabet Inc. GOOG, +1.92% GOOGL, +1.83% rose about 2% after founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page announced they’d step away from the company they started two decades ago.
Investors will also be watching for third-quarter results from Restoration Hardware RH, +2.78%, Slack Technologies, Inc. WORK, -2.75%, and H&R Block Inc., HRB, -0.30% among others.
What are other markets doing?
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, +3.50% rose seven basis points to 1.78%.
In commodities markets, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil CL00, +4.15% jumped 4.2% to $58.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold for February delivery GCG20, -0.30% fell $2.60, or 0.4%, to $1,478.50 an ounce on Comex.
The U.S. dollar, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.11%, was down 0.1% at 97.64 against a basket of a half-dozen currency peers.
European stocks were broadly trading higher, with the Stoxx Europe SXXP, +1.18% up 1.1%, to 403.
In Asia overnight, the Hang Seng HSI, -1.25% fell 328 points, 1.3%, and the China CSI 000300, -0.03% ticked down 1.3 points to 3,849.82.
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