Wall Street rose on Friday with help from positive comments from Washington and Beijing about progress on efforts to reach a US-China trade deal, and from upbeat domestic economic data.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News that a trade deal was “potentially very close” following remarks by President Xi Jinping (習近平) that Beijing wanted to work out an initial agreement.
“It’s tied back to the on-again, off-again narrative that’s been the consistent theme regarding a potential trade deal with China. Our President says we’re on today so the market’s responding accordingly,” said Mike Loewengart, vice president for investment strategy at E*Trade Financial Corp in New York.
However, investors were also showing skepticism as the situation in Hong Kong added complexity, he said.
Meanwhile, the latest economic data underscored a resilient domestic economy as US manufacturing output accelerated this month to its fastest pace in seven months and services activity picked up more than expected.
However, benchmark S&P 500 index snapped its six-week winning streak, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ saw its first weekly drop in eight weeks. A largely better-than-expected third-quarter corporate earnings season had also contributed to the recent rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 109.33 points, or 0.39 percent, to 27,875.62. The S&P 500 gained 6.75 points, or 0.22 percent, to 3,110.29 and the NASDAQ Composite added 13.67 points, or 0.16 percent, to 8,519.88.
For the week the Dow lost 0.46 percent, the S&P fell 0.33 percent and the NASDAQ shed 0.25 percent.
Nordstrom Inc jumped 10.64 percent after the retailer raised its forecast for this year and reported third-quarter profit above expectations.
Gap Inc shares were up 4.44 percent after it beat lowered quarterly profit estimates days after the retailer cut its annual forecast and replaced its longtime chief executive officer Art Peck.
Shares of Tesla Inc fell 6.14 percent as Wall Street questioned the look of its newly unveiled electric pickup truck, whose “armored glass” windows shattered in a demonstration.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.69-to-1 ratio; on NASDAQ, a 1.47-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the NASDAQ Composite recorded 49 new highs and 73 new lows.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
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