US markets end higher on Monday

24 Dec 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Monday, extending the upward trend seen over the past session, as investors focused on a report that China will cut import tariffs for frozen pork, pharmaceuticals and some high-tech components. China said tentative import tax rates will be implemented for 859 types of products beginning January 1 in order to optimize the trade structure and promote high-quality economic development. The tentative import tax rates, which were imposed on 706 types of products last year, are lower than the most-favored-nation tariffs. The move by Beijing comes following the recent reports that the US and China have reached an agreement on a phase one trade deal. Besides, some support came in on report released by the Commerce Department showed a significant increase in US new home sales in the month of November. The Commerce Department said new home sales jumped by 1.3 percent to an annual rate of 719,000 after plunging by 2.7 percent to a revised rate of 710,000 in October. Street had expected new home sales to inch up by 0.1 percent to 734,000 from the 733,000 originally reported for the previous month.

The rebound in new home sales came as sales in the Northeast soared by 52.4 percent to a rate of 32,000 and sales in the West surged up by 7.5 percent to a rate of 216,000. However, reflecting a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected slump in new orders for US manufactured durable goods in the month of November. The report said durable goods orders plunged by 2.0 percent in November after edging up by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in October. The sharp decline came as a surprise to participants, who had expected durable goods orders to jump by 1.5 percent compared to the 0.5 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 96.44 points or 0.34 percent to 28551.53, Nasdaq rose 20.69 points or 0.23 percent to 8945.65 and S&P 500 was up by 2.79 points or 0.09 percent to 3224.01.

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