US markets end higher on Monday

02 Apr 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher with gains of over a percent on Monday on optimism about US-China trade talks as well as a positive reaction to upbeat US and Chinese manufacturing data. Beijing announced that it will continue to suspend additional tariffs on US vehicles and auto parts after April 1 as a gesture after Washington delayed tariff hikes on Chinese imports. A delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is headed to Washington later this week for another round of trade talks. Besides, support also came in after indicating a faster rate of growth in US manufacturing activity in the month of March, the Institute for Supply Management  (ISM) released a report showing an unexpected increase by its index of activity in the sector. The ISM said its purchasing managers index rose to 55.3 in March after falling to 54.2 in February, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector. Street had expected the index to come in unchanged. The report said the new orders index climbed to 57.4 in March from 55.5 in February, while the production index ticked up to 55.8 from 54.8. The employment index also surged up to 57.5 in March from 52.3 in February, indicating a notable acceleration in the rate of job growth in the manufacturing sector. The index reached its highest level since November of 2018.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected decrease in US retail sales in February, as the report also showed a significant upward revision to the increase in sales in the previous month. The report said retail sales dipped by 0.2% in February after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7% in January. Street had expected sales to rise by 0.3% compared to the 0.2% uptick originally reported for the previous month. The unexpected drop in retail sales came despite a rebound in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, which increased by 0.7% in February after plunging by 1.9% in January. Excluding the rebound in auto sales, retail sales fell by 0.4% in February after jumping by a revised 1.4% in January.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 329.74 points or 1.27 percent to 26258.42, Nasdaq gained 99.59 points or 1.29 percent to 7828.91 and S&P 500 was up by 32.79 points or 1.16 percent to 2867.19.

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