US stocks recoup losses on officials' upbeat trade comments
U.S. stocks Friday closed up after rebounding from early session losses, which stemmed from President Trump hiking tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing vowing retaliation, as officials from both countries made positive comments about their negotiations.
Shortly after midnight, Trump hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports to 25 percent from 10 percent, as trade negotiations resumed. Soon afterward, Beijing said it would have to implement “necessary countermeasures.”
For much of the morning, stocks languished in negative territory, even as American and Chinese officials negotiated in Washington.
However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the China trade talks were “constructive,” according to CNBC, and then shortly after that China’s Vice Premier Liu He told reporters that Friday's trade talks went “fairly well.”
In addition, shortly before the closing bell, Trump tweeted that talks would continue and the tariffs on China could be removed.
That lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite into positive territory. Despite the late-session recovery, the three major indexes closed out their worst week of the year.
Wall Street gave a muted response to the initial public offering (IPO) of ride-hailing company Uber. The company's shares debuted slightly below their IPO price amid market volatility and concerns about its ability to transform from tech darling to profitable mainstay. From there, the stock headed south.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UBER | UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC. | 71.84 | +0.23 | +0.31% |
| LYFT | LYFT INC. | 17.14 | -0.04 | -0.23% |
The ride-sharing giant had priced shares at $45 ahead of its debut as it sought a valuation of roughly $82 billion. Trading began at roughly $42 per share. Analysts initially expected Uber to pursue a valuation of up to $120 billion.
Uber is the largest IPO this year, raising $8.1 billion, far ahead of smaller rival Lyft’s $2.34 billion. Lyft was the worst performer in the group: Shares were down sharply from their $72 offering price.
| 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% |
Quarterly earnings season is nearly finished with almost 90 percent of S&P 500 components having reported. About three-quarters of the corporations have beaten earnings estimates. Earnings from January through March are up 1.6 percent from a year ago, trouncing forecasts for a 2.3 percent decline.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was modestly lower at 2.46 percent.
Crude oil prices edged higher, with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate closing at $61.72 per barrel.
China’s Shanghai Composite closed up 3.1 percent, the Hang Seng was higher by 0.84 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.27 percent.
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Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.24 higher, France’s CAC 40 added 0.32 percent and Germany’s DAX increased 0.53 percent.