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 (NYSE: SPY): +0.75% or +23.35 points
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.68% or +190.85 points
Nasdaq Composite Index (NYSE: QQQ): +1.32% or +112.6 points
In Major Company Merger News, Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) is reportedly buying TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) in an all-stock transaction. TD Ameritrade was valued at around $26 billion. TD Ameritrade's interim President and CEO Stephan Boyle stated that "Partnering with Schwab on this transformative opportunity makes the right strategic and financial sense for TD Ameritrade...Together we can deliver the ultimate client experience for retail investors and independent registered investment advisors." The combined company will have 24 million client accounts and more than $5 trillion in client assets.
LVMH (LVMUY) also made headlines Monday as the luxury group announced that they will add Tiffany (NYSE: TIF) to their long list of acquired brands in an all-stocks transaction valued at around $16.2 billion. The merger will strengthen LVMH's position in jewelry, which is an area the luxury group was slumping in the United States.
Novartis (NYSE: NVS), the pharmaceutical giant, announced Sunday that it will purchase The Medicines Co. (NASDAQ: MDCO) in a deal valued at about $9.7 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
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%.