U.S. Stocks continued to rise Thursday as a Bloomberg report stated that the U.S. trade negotiators had reached terms on principle of a phase one trade deal that only needs the approval of President Donald Trump. Market participates are still awaiting Trump's signature as the trading period closed.
Here's how the market closed Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Trump ignited the stock market this morning by tweeting: "Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!" This comment came mere minutes after opening and is in line with the December 15 phase one deadline. The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. officials have offered to halve existing tariffs on imports and cancel Sunday's new round of tariffs. The world is watching with bated breath.
In U.S. Economic News, new unemployment claims in the U.S. rose to the highest level in two years last week, according to the U.S. Labor Department's latest report. The seasonally adjusted initial claims read 252,000, with is an increase of 49,000 from last week's report. Consensus economists had expected the claims report to only total 214,000. However, continued unemployment claims fell to 1.667 million for the last week of November, which is a drop of 100,000.
In U.S. Stock Sector News, most sectors continued their share gains into Friday. Those who saw an increase Thursday include Financials +1.99%, Energy +1.97%, Materials +1.44%, Information Technology +1.08%, Health Care +0.88%, Consumer Discretionary +0.87% and Industrials +0.86%. The remaining that ha stock declines include Real Estate -1.45%, Utilities -0.48%, Consumer Staples -0.08% and Communication Services -0.01%.
Finally, in Currency and Commodity News, oil prices spiked in trading today due to the optimism market participates have towards the pending outcome of the U.S.-China trade war. West Texas Intermediate jumped over +1% and Brent Crude was not far behind with a price increase of over +0.80%. Gold, however, declined due to more certainty towards the future flow of the market. The metal's prices decreases over -0.30%. Lastly, the U.S. Dollar almost always increases when trade news is positive, and Thursday was no different with the DXY Index rising over +0.10%.
