U.S. stocks gained Monday as news surrounding the U.S.-China trade war remained positive and showed more signs that the two are heading towards an initial agreement.
Over the weekend, the Chinese government issued a new guidance for enhancing IPR protection. The document reads that "strengthening IPR protection is the most important content of improving the IPR protection system and also the biggest incentive to boost China's economic competitiveness." By 2022, China will strive to effectively curb IPR infringement, and overcome challenges including high costs, low compensation and difficulties in providing evidence for safeguarding intellectual property rights. This move was seen as a signal that China is willing to cooperate with one of the key demands for the U.S. side of the trade deal.
Here's how the U.S. market closed Monday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
In Major Company Merger News, Charles Schwab
LVMH (LVMUY) also made headlines Monday as the luxury group announced that they will add Tiffany
Novartis
In U.S. Stock Sector News, all sectors but one saw share gains during Monday's trading session. Those that increased today include Information Technology +1.43%, Health Care +1.07%, Consumer Discretionary +0.89%, Industrials +0.72%, Financials +0.65%, Materials +0.62%, Consumer Staples +0.18%, Energy +0.16%, Communication Services +0.12% and Real Estate +0.06%. The one sector whose stocks mostly lost share gains with Utilities with a decline of -0.37%.
Finally, in Commodity and Currency News, oil prices edged slightly positive Monday. West Texas Intermediate increased close to +0.05% and Brent Crude's barrel prices gained over 0.15%. Natural Gas on the other hand took a dive of over -5% due to an abundance in supply as the U.S. enters its winter months. Gold is also on a decline, with the metal's prices decreasing almost -0.5% at the start of the week. The U.S. Dollar however is still on its winning streak, with the DXY Index reading an increase of almost +0.05%.