The U.S. Stock Market has stayed in the green today following a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration is considering offering a limited trade agreement to China that would delay and roll back some U.S. tariffs in exchange for Chinese commitments on intellectual property changes and agricultural purchases. This proposal would temporarily pause the trade war but does not offer a final resolution.
Here's how the market closed Thursday:
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA): +0.17% or 45.41 points
NASDAQ Composite Index (QQQ): +0.30% or 24.79 points
S&P 500 (SPY): +0.29% or 8.84 points
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would put off additional tariffs on Chinese goods by two weeks, making the new date October 15 from the original October 1. Trump tweeted that this is his "gesture of good will" to move the tariffs worth $250 billion to a later date.
Earlier this week, China's Ministry of Finance moved to exempt 16 types of U.S. products from additional tariffs imposed on the imports. This exemption will take effect on Tuesday and remain in place for a year. This list covers a number of medicines and insecticides, but tariffs will still impact U.S agricultural exports.
In stock news, SmileDirectClub Inc. (NASDAQ: SDC) did very poorly in its U.S. market debut. Shares are down 27.52% from its $23 offer price. SmileDirectClub is on track to have the worst market debut of the year of a company worth over $1 billion.
Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) stock rose 0.20% today after reporting second-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Kroger has recently invested in digital sales and delivery services to compete with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT).
Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) announced that the company is looking into purchasing the online review company Yelp Inc (NYSE: YELP). This news caused Yelp shares to increase 5.55%
Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) saw shares drop 9.24% today after reporting low fourth quarter earnings. The company reports a revenue of $98.9 million when expectations were set to see the company earn $108.3 million.
Friday's report will follow more trade war news between China and the U.S. as well as market movements as more quarterly reports are issued.