The stock exchanges in New York closed Monday on a higher note. Investors on Wall Street responded positively to the cease-fire in the trade war between the United States and China. Oil prices were also firmly on the rise. The Dow-Jones index ended 1.1 percent higher at 25,826.43 points. The broad S & P 500 gained 1.1 percent to 2790.37 points and the technology index Nasdaq rose 1.5 percent to 7441.51 points.
Chinese president Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump agreed at the G20 summit in Argentina not to introduce new import tariffs for ninety days, with the aim of reaching a trade deal within that period. China also agreed to purchase a large amount of American products and the country would be willing to reduce or even put an end to import duties on American cars.
The car manufacturers General Motors (GM), Ford and Tesla stood in the green and trade-sensitive companies such as Caterpillar and Boeing climbed to 3.8 percent. Tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Nvidia advanced around 4 percent. Web store giant Amazon was able to oust Microsoft for some time as the most valued company in the world.
Attention was also paid to the chip maker NXP Semiconductors (up 2.8 percent), which grabbed headlines on reports of Chinese merger approval. Chip manufacturer Qualcomm (added 1.5 percent) no longer seeks a purchase of NXP, after China announced that it would approve a possible takeover. The acquisition deal between Qualcomm and NXP, worth $44 billion, ended earlier this year because Beijing did not grant timely approval.
Oil stocks in New York benefited from the rise in oil prices, after the news that Saudi Arabia and Russia will continue to cooperate in determining oil production. This week, the OPEC oil cartel is holding a meeting on production. It was also announced that the Canadian province of Alberta is going to lower oil production in order to tackle the oversupply. There are oil-rich areas in Alberta. A barrel of American oil rose 4.5 percent in price to 53.21 dollars. Brent oil cost 4.3 percent more at $61.99 per barrel.
