US markets end higher amid trade hopes

08 Nov 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher with Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closing at record highs on Thursday after a spokesman for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said the US and China have agreed to lift existing tariffs in phases. Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said the trade war started with tariffs and should end with the cancellation of tariffs. Gao added Both sides have agreed to cancel additional tariffs in different phases, as both sides make progress in their negotiations. The US has widely been expected to scrap tariffs on about $156 billion worth of Chinese imports currently set to take effect on December 15 as part of phase one. A private report said an anonymous US official confirmed the planned rollback as part of a phase one trade agreement President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping hope to sign before the end of the year.

On the economic front, a report released by the Federal Reserve showed US consumer credit increased by much less than expected in the month of September. The Fed said consumer credit rose by $9.5 billion in September after jumping by $17.9 billion in August. Street had expected consumer credit to climb by $15.0 billion. The smaller than expected increase in consumer credit came as a continued drop in revolving credit partly offset continued growth in non-revolving credit. Revolving credit, which largely reflects credit card debt, edged down by $1.1 billion in September after slipping by $2.2 billion in August. Besides, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended November 2, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims slid to 211,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 219,000. Street had expected jobless claims to dip to 215,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 182.24 points or 0.66 percent to 27674.80, Nasdaq rose 23.89 points or 0.28 percent to 8434.52 and S&P 500 was up by 8.40 points or 0.27 percent to 3085.18.

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