Extending their gains for fifth straight day, the US markets ended higher on Thursday as traders remain optimistic the US and China will eventually reach a long-term trade deal. Delegations from Washington and Beijing ended three days of trade negotiations in China on Wednesday. China's commerce ministry said Thursday the negotiations were extensive and had helped set up a foundation for further talks. This week’s face-to-face meetings were the first to take place since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce last month. If both sides are unable to secure a comprehensive trade agreement by March 2, Trump has said he plans to raise tariffs to 25% from 10% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. However, gains remained capped as disappointing holiday sales from Macy’s and revenue guidance cut from American Airlines pressured retail and airline shares. Fear that the US government shutdown might continue for a long time also weighed on stocks.
Macy’s shares tanked more than 18% - their worst day ever -after reporting its same-store sales grew by just 1.1% in November and December. The company also cut its earnings and revenue forecast for fiscal 2018. On the economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a bigger than expected drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended January 5. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 216,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 233,000. Street had expected jobless claims to dip to 225,000 from the 231,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 122.80 points or 0.51 percent to 24001.92, Nasdaq rose 28.99 points or 0.42 percent to 6986.07 and S&P 500 was up by 11.68 points or 0.45 percent to 2596.64.
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