Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street for the second straight day Thursday as the U.S. and China kicked off a new round of negotiations in their long-running trade war.
Technology companies and banks led the rally as investors turned hopeful that the 13th round of trade talks will bring both sides closer to ending the costly conflict between the world’s two biggest economies.
Traders were encouraged after President Donald Trump said he would meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is leading Beijing’s negotiating team, at the White House on Friday. He also said China wants to make a deal.
“It’s really good that Trump is meeting him, because that increases the odds that some type of positive news may happen tomorrow,” said Brad Bernstein, senior portfolio manager at UBS Global Wealth Management.
The S&P 500 rose 18.73 points, or 0.6%, to 2,938.13. The benchmark index had been up about 1% earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 150.66 points, or 0.6%, to 26,496.67. It had been up as much as 257 points.
The Nasdaq added 47.04 points, or 0.6%, to 7,950.78. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies picked up 5.90 points, or 0.4%, to 1,485.36.
Mortgage rates fall; 30-year at 3.57%
U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week amid continued uncertainty about the economy’s outlook.
Mortgage rates have been running near historic lows, a potential boon to homebuyers.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage dipped to 3.57% from 3.65% last week. A year ago, the average rate stood at 4.90%.
The average rate for 15-year, fixed-rate home loans declined this week to 3.05% from 3.14% last week.
Inflation rate remains modest
Overall consumer prices were unchanged in September as a big decline in energy costs offset small gains in other areas.
The flat reading in the Consumer Price Index for September followed a tiny 0.1% August increase and left prices over the past 12 months rising at a modest annual rate of 1.7%, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, was up a tiny 0.1% in September and 2.4% over the past 12 months. That was the same 12-month rise for core prices as in August and both of those 12-month gains were the biggest July 2018.
Economists noted that higher tariffs imposed on $150 billion of Chinese goods at the beginning of September did not appear to have much of an impact on inflation readings during the month.
“There was almost no sign of the 10% tariff introduced at the start of the month,” said Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics said.
UK vacuum maker scraps electric car
Dyson, the British company best known for groundbreaking vacuum cleaners, is scrapping its electric car project because it doesn’t make business sense.
Billionaire founder James Dyson said in an email to employees Thursday that the project was shut down because the company “simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable.”
Dyson said the company had failed to find a buyer for the project and denied that it was a “product failure.”
Dyson announced plans last year to build the car in Singapore as part of a 2.5 billion-pound ($3.1 billion) investment in new technology globally.
The project was an ambitious attempt to enter an industry where even visionaries like Tesla’s Elon Musk have struggled to make money.
Walmart promotes Sam’s Club CEO
Walmart says it is promoting the president and CEO of its Sam’s Club division to lead the company’s namesake stores in the U.S.
John Furner, 45, will succeed Greg Foran, who was in that role for five years and spearheaded a turnaround at Walmart’s U.S. division, company’s largest with more than 4,700 stores. The move is effective Nov.1.
Foran, a native of New Zealand, is taking on the CEO role at Air New Zealand. He will be staying on with Walmart through Jan. 31.
Walmart’s U.S. division has posted several years of consecutive quarterly sales gains under Foran’s leadership.