US markets settle at fresh closing records on Thursday

07 Feb 2020 Evaluate

The US markets settled at fresh closing records on Thursday, extending recent rally, on the heels of report that China plans to cut tariffs on approximately $75 billion worth of US goods in half. A statement from China's Ministry of Finance said tariffs on some US goods will be cut from to 5 percent from 10 percent, while tariffs on other goods will be lowered to 2.5 percent from 5 percent. The tariffs reductions, effective on February 14, will coincide with the US move to halve tariffs on $120 billion worth of Chinese goods as part of the phase one trade deal that was signed last month. Meanwhile, the Senate acquitted President Donald Trump on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, as expected. He delivered a speech where he described the impeachment as a terrible ordeal. However, buying interest was somewhat subdued as some traders seemed reluctant to continuing picking up stocks following the rally seen over previous sessions.

On the economic data front, a day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for US unemployment benefits fell by much more than expected in the week ended February 1. The report said initial jobless claims slid to 202,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 217,000. Street had expected jobless claims to edge down to 215,000 from the 216,000 originally reported for the previous week. Besides, after reporting a modest decrease in US labor productivity in the previous quarter, the Labor Department released a report showing a notable rebound in productivity in the fourth quarter. The Labor Department said labor productivity jumped by 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter after edging down by 0.2 percent in the third quarter. Street had expected productivity to surge up by about 1.5 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 88.92 points or 0.3 percent to 29379.77, Nasdaq gained 63.47 points or 0.67 percent to 9572.15 and S&P 500 was up by 11.09 points or 0.33 percent to 3345.78.


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