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Stocks - Wall Street Continues Bullish Momentum As Trump Eases Trade Concerns

Published 05/14/2018, 09:36 AM
Updated 05/14/2018, 09:36 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

Investing.com - Wall Street opened higher on Monday as easing tensions between China and the U.S. allowed the bullish momentum to continue at the start of the week.

At 9:32AM ET (13:32GMT), the Dow Jones gained 94 points, or 0.38%, the S&P 500 rose 9 points, or 0.38%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 32 points, or 0.43%.

Coming off the strong rally of more than 2% last week when stocks saw their best weekly gain since March, the Dow was on track at the open to log its eighth straight session of gains.

Sentiment was boosted by an apparent thawing of trade relations between China and the U.S. as President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he planned to help Chinese telecom ZTE (HK:0763) “get back to business”.

The announcement arrived ahead of a second round of trade talks that begin on Tuesday, even though Beijing has indicated that it does not plan to change its current stance in the trade dispute.

With no major economic reports scheduled for release on Monday, investors will watch for clues from Federal Reserve policy makers on the pace of future rate hikes this year.

Speaking earlier on Monday, Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester reiterated her support for “the continued gradual removal of policy accommodation”.

While Mester said that she does not expect inflation to pick up sharply, she warned that the Fed may need to raise interest rates above 3% if the U.S. economy grew faster than expected.

Markets have fully priced in a rate hike at the Fed’s next two-day meeting ending on June 13, with another increase to come at the September policy decision. However, market participants remain on the fence over whether an additional rate hike will arrive in December.

St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard is slated to speak about cryptocurrencies at the CoinDesk Consensus 2018 conference in New York at 9:40AMET (13:40GMT).

The dollar {{news- 1445410||continued to move lower}} against a basket of the other major currencies on Monday, putting it on track for its fourth straight session of declines.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.32% at 92.14 by 9:34AM ET (13:34GMT), as investors waited for retail sales to be released on Tuesday.

With the first quarter earnings season coming to an end (only 10 S&P firms will report this week), retailers will pick up the reporting baton with Home Depot (NYSE:HD) starting things off on Tuesday. Results from Macy's (NYSE:M) are on the agenda for Wednesday; while Walmart (NYSE:WMT), the world’s largest retailer, is due to report earnings on Thursday.

In other company news, Xerox (NYSE:XRX) saw shares tumble around 4% as it abandoned a $6.1 billion deal for a joint venture with Japan’s Fujifilm.

After announcing the acquisition of a 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 billion last week, Walmart said it may take the India-based e-commerce firm public within four years.

Meanwhile, oil prices turned higher on Monday after OPEC declared in its monthly report that a global supply glut has been virtually eliminated thanks in part to ongoing OPEC-led supply cuts and fast-rising global demand.

U.S. crude futures gained 0.18% to $70.83 by 9:34AM ET (13:34GMT), while Brent oil rose 0.41% to $77.44.

Latest comments

Altrough positive news, I would still be wary, Donald has already shown his erratical and irrational behavior and that no one is able to contain him, so he could make this trade war worst at any second without warning.
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