NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. and Europe jumped Friday as renewed hopes for progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China helped the markets finish the week with another strong gain.
Indexes jumped after Bloomberg News reported that China’s government offered to buy more goods and services from the U.S., potentially eliminating its trade deficit by 2024. For investors, the encouraging news on trade builds on recent positive signs for the U.S. economy and indications from the Federal Reserve that it will be patient when considering future interest rate hikes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 5.9 percent and the S&P 500 index has risen 6.5 percent so far this year, a surprisingly strong showing coming off a punishing end to 2018.
Technology and industrial companies made some of the top gains, while banks rose after around round of solid fourth-quarter earnings reports. Oil and copper prices rose, while gold and bond prices fell. Those are all signs traders felt more optimistic about global economic growth.
Over the last few days investors grew steadily more hopeful the U.S. and China are narrowing their differences over trade. On Wednesday the Chinese government said the top trade envoys from both countries will meet at the end of January.
“What you can see that is significant is that both sides are trying,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager of Globalt Investments. “Everybody feels like they’ve now made their point” after the two nations spent most of 2018 staking out positions and occasionally making threats.
Martin said the Federal Reserve has also made a big contribution to the rally.
The S&P 500 climbed 34.75 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,670.71. The Dow jumped 336.25 points, or 1.4 percent, to 24,706.35. The Nasdaq composite added 72.76 points, or 1 percent, to 7,157.23.
Stock indexes have surged since reaching a low point on Christmas Eve, as the S&P 500 has risen for four weeks in a row. It climbed 2.9 percent this week. It’s risen at least 1.9 percent every week during that rally. The last time the index rose at least 1.5 percent for four weeks in a row was in early 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis, according to LPL Financial Senior Market Strategist Ryan Detrick.
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