US markets end marginally higher on Friday

14 Dec 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended marginally higher on Friday after President Donald Trump and Chinese officials announced a trade pact that includes a rollback of some tariffs, the scrapping of further duties originally set for Sunday, and promises of targeted US agricultural purchases by China. Trump said more US import duties that were planned to start from Sunday on more than $150 million in annual consumer goods will not be charged because of the fact we made the deal.  Trump also said China would most likely buy $50 billion of farm goods. Besides, the US Trade Representative said that the United States and China have reached an historic and enforceable agreement on a Phase One trade deal that requires structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange.

On the economic data front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed retail sales in the US rose by far less than Street had anticipated in the month of November. The Commerce Department said retail sales edged up by 0.2 percent in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in October. Street had expected retail sales to climb by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.3 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. The uptick in retail sales was partly due to continued growth in sales by motor vehicles and parts dealers, which rose by 0.5 percent in November after jumping by 1.0 percent in October. Meanwhile, business inventories in the US increased in line with Street estimates in the month of October, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The Commerce Department said business inventories rose by 0.2 percent in October after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in September. Street had expected inventories to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.33 points or 0.01 percent to 28135.38, Nasdaq added 17.56 points or 0.20 percent to 8734.88 and S&P 500 was up by 0.23 points or 0.01 percent to 3168.80.

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