The rebound earlier this year continued on Wall Street for the third consecutive session amid hopes of a trade agreement between the United States and China. Negotiations scheduled for 48 hours, will finally be extended Wednesday for a third day in Beijing. In addition, Donald Trump was to make a serious address from the Oval Office, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, to defend his controversial wall project on the border with Mexico.
At the close, the Dow Jones index gained 1.09% to 23.787 points, while the broad S & P 500 index finished up 0.97% to 2.574 pts, and the composite Nasdaq index, rich in technology and biotechnology stocks, gained 1.08% to 6.897 pts. Russell 2000, the US small-market index, jumped 1.37% to 1,424 points, confirming renewed investor interest in small companies.
Since the beginning of the year, indices have now returned 1.97% (Dow Jones), 2.7% (S & P 500) and 3.9% (Nasdaq) after falling in 2018 for the first time in 10 years since 2008. Last year, the Dow Jones lost 6.4%, the S & P 500 5.6% and the Nasdaq lost 3.9%.
Encouraging messages about trade talks between the United States and China propelled sentiment. A US delegation was consulting in China on the agreements made in December between the presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The two leaders agreed at the G20 summit in Argentina not to impose new import duties for ninety days, with the aim of reaching a trade deal within that period. Trump reported that the negotiations are running very well.
Shares of Mattel climbed 5 percent higher after the toy maker signed an agreement with Warner Bros for a Barbie cinema film. Earlier it became known that the company is going to manufacture dolls based on the popular Korean boy band BTS.
