The Dow and S&P 500 closed out Thursday’s session at fresh 2019 highs, as President Donald Trump gears up to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House for more talks to resolve the U.S.-China trade standoff.
As of market close, the S&P 500 jumped 0.21%, or 5.99 points and posted a six-day winning streak. The Dow rallied 166.50 points, or 0.64%, and the Nasdaq fell by 0.05%, or 3.77 points.
Many are hoping the meeting between Trump and He means that the negotiations are in their final stages, and may end with the president and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, signing an official document in the near future.
The agreement being drafted between the two countries would give China until 2025 to meet the trade promises, according to a Bloomberg report. If the proposed deal comes to fruition, China would agree to purchase more U.S. commodities, such as soybeans and energy products, the publication reported.
Additionally, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon released his annual letter to shareholders. In it, Dimon touched on JPMorgan’s overall health and plans for 2019, but the chief executive also hit on a plethora of other topics, such as the American Dream, capitalism, cyber security, China’s economy, and other top geopolitical and economic concerns.
Dimon ended the letter with a call to action for CEOs.
“We believe CEOs can and should get involved – particularly when they or their companies can uniquely help design policies that are good for America,” Dimon wrote. “It’s not enough just for companies to meet the letter and the spirit of the law. They can also aggressively work to improve society.”
STOCKS
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares tanked 8% after the company revealed disappointing March delivery numbers on Wednesday evening. The electric automaker said it delivered 63,000 vehicles during the first quarter of this year, well below estimates for around 77,000 units. Tesla delivered approximately 50,900 Model 3 and 12,100 Model S and X.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock was higher by nearly 3% after Ethiopian Airlines released its preliminary investigation results. In the report, the airline argued that the pilots followed the emergency protocols recommended by Boeing and approved by the FAA.
ECONOMY
Initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 202,000 for the week ended March 30, according to the Labor Department. Economists were predicting 215,000 claims for the week, and data for the week before was revised up from 211,000 to 212,000 claims.
The drop in U.S. weekly jobless claims is the lowest level since early December 1969.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (AX:SPY) rose $0.02 (+0.01%) in after-hours trading Thursday. Year-to-date, SPY (NYSE:SPY) has gained 8.05%.
SPY currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #1 of 154 ETFs in the Large Cap Blend ETFs category.