Dow tops 28,000 as US, China trade deal comes together
Investors are pushing stocks to historic levels
Stocks rallied to record highs, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping 28,000 for the first time, Friday after White House officials said the U.S. and China are getting closer to a phase one trade deal.
"The important thing is to make sure that the deal is what we think it is," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo. He says there is a "very high probability" of a deal, but cautioned "the devil is always in the details."
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Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, likewise on Friday indicated the two sides were close to a deal and talks were so far "constructive."
Friday's buying ran the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 221 points, or 0.8 percent. It took 90 trading sessions for the index to rally from 27,000 to above 28,000.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also hit fresh highs, settling up 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 44782 | -128.65 | -0.29% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 6047.15 | +14.77 | +0.24% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19403.947849 | +185.78 | +0.97% |
President Trump celebrated the stock market's gains on Twitter.
"Another Record Stock Market, 21 times this year, despite an ongoing, & totally unfounded, Witch Hunt, & a Democrat Party that would love to see a nice, big, juicy recession," the president tweeted Friday morning.
Trade-sensitive names like Boeing and Caterpillar were higher.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 156.54 | +1.10 | +0.71% |
| CAT | CATERPILLAR INC. | 402.51 | -3.60 | -0.89% |
RH, the luxury retailer formerly known as Restoration Hardware, gained after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a 1.2 million-share stake.
Consumer bank Wells Fargo was little changed after Berkshire disclosed the sale of more than 30 million shares. The conglomerate often sells shares of the bank to keep its stake below 10 percent to comply with a Federal Reserve rule.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RH | RH | 385.14 | -1.42 | -0.37% |
| WFC | WELLS FARGO & CO. | 76.17 | -1.04 | -1.35% |
Elsewhere, J.C. Penney Co. gained after the retailer reported its third-quarter loss narrowed from a year ago.
The marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis was under pressure after first-quarter revenue fell short of analysts' expectations. Aurora warned the timetable for its ramp-up in core markets faces uncertainty.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JCP | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
| ACB | AURORA CANNABIS INC. | 4.55 | +0.01 | +0.22% |
Commodities were mixed with gold down 0.4 percent at $1,467 an ounce and West Texas Intermediate crude oil up 1.7 percent at $57.84 a barrel.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasurys were lower with selling pushing the yield on the 10-year note up 2 basis points to 1.835 percent.
In Asian markets on Friday, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.7 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.6 percent.
Hong Kong confirmed on Friday it plunged into recession for the first time in a decade following months of anti-government protests and the U.S.-China trade war. Third-quarter figures showed the economy shrank by 3.2 percent from the preceding period. That makes it a second straight quarter of contraction, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
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In Europe, London's FTSE gained 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX was up 0.5 percent and France's CAC was higher by 0.7 percent.
FOX Business' Ken Martin and The Associated Press contributed to this article.