Signs Of U.S.-China Trade Deal Lift Stocks To Record Highs

Wall Street’s three main indexes all hit record highs on Monday (Nov. 4), on news of technology gains and the nearing of a deal with China over ongoing trade wars.

Reuters is reporting that both Washington and Beijing have said progress is being made in the trade dispute, which has seen the U.S. assign tariffs on Chinese imports and repercussions of stalled negotiations hurting countries’ economies.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also said a deal for U.S. companies to sell to Huawei Technologies was going to happen “very shortly.”

Out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors, eight were higher. Energy shares .SPNY gained the most, riding high oil prices. Technology shares .SPLRCT also had a huge boost.

Chip stocks, which were affected by the ongoing trade issues, hit new benchmarks as well, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX reaching a new record.

“Signing these deals takes time. All that is needed for markets to be happy right now is for an agreement to be announced,” said Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey. “The earnings period was certainly enough to support current stock prices. It wasn’t good enough to lead stocks higher, but not bad enough for them to go any lower.”

In Q3, 76 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far are beating expectations. A recent rate cut by the Fed and the expectation of an impending trade deal have helped the recent surge. There was also a better-than-expected jobs report in October.

One segment that might not be growing as much as the rest is manufacturing. In September, new orders for goods made in the U.S. were down more than expected, and equipment spending fell as well.

The S&P Index saw a benchmark of 52-week highs and no new lows. The Nasdaq saw 11 new highs and 21 new lows.