The S&P 500 and Dow Industrials rose on Friday after President Donald Trump said the United States may not have to impose further tariffs on Chinese goods.
All three indexes had been lower in early trade as an underwhelming earnings outlook from Nvidia Corp. weighed on chipmaker stocks and shares of Facebook Inc. extended their slide following reports critical of the company’s response to Russian propaganda on its social network.
U.S. stocks moved higher, however, after President Donald Trump said China seemed willing to make a deal on trade and that the United States may not have to impose further tariffs on the Chinese goods.
“We caught a little bit of a rally on the president’s quotes on the upcoming meeting with China,” said Mark Kepner, equity trader at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
But lagging Nvidia and Facebook shares capped the Nasdaq’s gains.
Nvidia tumbled 18.8 per cent after the chipmaker pointed to the decline in cryptocurrency mining as the cause of its declining sales. The chipmaker’s shares also weighed on the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index, which declined 1 per cent.
Facebook shares dropped 3 per cent upon renewed concerns that the company could face regulatory scrutiny following a New York Times report on Wednesday about the company’s attempts to deflect criticism.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123.95 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 25,413.22, the S&P 500 gained 5.94 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 2,736.14, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 11.16 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 7,247.87.
S&P 500 energy stocks rose 1.1 per cent as oil prices recovered from sharp losses this week on expectations that OPEC and its allies would agree to cut output next month.
S&P 500 utility stocks also jumped, advancing 1.3 per cent, as PG&E Corp. shares surged 37.6 per cent. Statements from the California Public Utilities Commission raised hopes that the embattled utility company could be spared from bankruptcy if it were found liable for the state’s deadliest-ever wildfire.
Consumer discretionary stocks, however, fell 0.5 per cent. Continuing a gloomy week for retailers, shares of department store operator Nordstrom Inc. tumbled 13.6 per cent after quarterly same-store sales missed estimates and the company reported charges from a credit card problem.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 10.62 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 15,155.50.
Marijuana producers pushed the health care sector down 1.9 per cent, led by a 6.4-per-cent decline in Aphria Inc. Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp. dipped 4.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
Energy stocks fell 0.5 per cent despite a rise in oil prices. Crescent Point Energy Corp. declined 2.7 per cent, while Encana Corp. lost 1.6 per cent.
Elsewhere, Bombardier Inc. fell 20.1 per cent after Quebec’s securities regulator asked it to halt executive share sales plan after revealing an ongoing probe into stock transactions by company executives.
Among few bright spots, the materials sector, added 1 per cent, as copper and zinc rose on signs of supply tightening and after gold prices climbed amid fears of a chaotic departure for Britain from the European Union.
Canadian factory sales edged up in September from August, on higher shipments of autos as production ramped up after a series of assembly plant shutdowns, Statistics Canada said.
Major European stock indexes were subdued as trade tensions and political risks surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union kept investors cautious. Germany’s DAX lost 0.1 per cent and France’s CAC slid 0.2 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gave up 0.3 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.6 per cent while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.3 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2 per cent.
The price of U.S. crude oil finished flat after a two-day winning streak. Benchmark U.S. crude oil was unchanged at $56.46 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 0.2 per cent to $66.76 a barrel in London. Despite the latest uptick, U.S. crude oil is still down about 13 per cent for the month.
In other energy trading, heating oil held steady to $2.07 a gallon and wholesale gasoline jumped 1.3 per cent to $1.58 a gallon.
Natural gas, which spiked earlier this week amid forecasts calling for a cold snap across much of the Northeast and South, continued to climb Friday, adding 5.8 per cent to $4.27 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The price of gold rose 0.7 per cent to $1,223 an ounce. Silver gained 0.8 per cent to $14.38 an ounce. Copper climbed 1.9 per cent to $2.80 a pound.
Reuters and The Associated Press