NEW YORK: Wall Street indexes rose on Thursday after US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to negotiate on tariffs that have weighed on global markets, while investors awaited a key jobs report to gauge the labor market’s health.
The leaders had invited each other to their respective countries at a future date, according to US and Chinese summaries of their phone call on Thursday.
The call comes amid accusations between Washington and Beijing in recent weeks over critical minerals in a dispute that threatens to tear up a fragile truce in the trade war between the two biggest economies.
“I have no idea what the outcome will be. That’s what makes investing in this environment really difficult,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.
“I think it’s less about trying to predict what he’s going to do and more about trying to build and maintain a portfolio that can succeed despite the curveballs coming our way.”
Weaker-than-expected US private payrolls and services sector data on Wednesday raised concerns about an economic slowdown caused by trade uncertainties, with investors focusing squarely on Friday’s non-farm payrolls report. Initial jobless claims data on Thursday showed Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits last week rose for a second straight week.
The S&P 500 remains more than 2% below its record highs touched in February.
At 12:09 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 145.34 points, or 0.33%, to 42,573.08, the S&P 500 gained 23.25 points, or 0.39%, to 5,994.06 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 115.99 points, or 0.60%, at 19,576.48.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-sectors rose, with information technology shares leading gains with a 0.8% rise.
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