Stocks and Holidays

Two days before Christmas, U.S. stock futures had a good day. Thanks to positive news connected with a trade deal between the U.S. and China.

Recently, China’s government agreed to lower tariffs for all trading partners on more than 859 types of products. According to the information released by China’s Finance Ministry.

Moreover, the lowered import duties will apply to frozen pork. China experienced problems due to the lack of pork meat because of swine fever. Additionally, tariffs on some of the products will fall to zero.

This move is the latest sign that the U.S. and China will sign the trade deal in the nearest future. It is worth mentioning that such decisions will have a positive impact on the trade deal. The partial trade agreement will boost the economy of the respective countries.

U.S. stocks on Monday morning

On Monday morning, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 62 points or 0.2% to 28,546. At the same time, the S&P 500 index added 7.80 points or 0.2% to 3,233.50.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 31.25 points to 8,741.75.

It is important to mention that Dow futures continue to strengthen its positions for a third week in a row. Last week, the Dow Jones increased by 1.1%. The Nasdaq Composite reached the best weekly gain since August 30.

Additionally, all three benchmarks produced a second consecutive weekly advance. From the beginning of the year, Dow Jones jumped 21.98%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 28.55% and the Nasdaq Composite by 32.51% as of Friday.

As a reminder, China and the U.S. reached a phase-one agreement. This deal will improve market sentiment in 2020. The global economy is slowing down and this is a big problem for the economy. In this situation, any good news is important for the stability of the stock markets. Politicians should pay more attention to stocks.