The renewed hopes for a resolution to the trade war that began on Friday continued into Monday’s trading with the Dow gaining another 114 points, a new all-time high since July, and the second session of all-time records for both the Nasdaq and S&P.  Other good news helping the indexes is the redemption of Huawei Technologies.  Q3 continues to go well with most S&P companies beating estimates and volume was brisk at 7.5 billion.  (Note: volume data is appearing again; it appears that Caroline Valetkevitch was probably on vacation last week as the other writers of the Reuters daily market report don’t always include this number.) 

mon  NOVEMBER 4, 2019 / 4:40 pm 

Indexes hit closing records amid further trade deal optimism

Caroline Valetkevitch

DJ:  27,347.36  +301.13       NAS:  8,386.40  +94.04         S&P:  3,066.91  +29.35     11/1

DJ:  27,462.11  +114.75       NAS:   8,433.20  +46.80         S&P:  3,078.27  +11.36     11/4

NEW YORK (Reuters) - All three major U.S. stock indexes posted record closing highs on Monday, extending a recent run of gains on further hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal.  It was the second consecutive session of closing records for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, and the first closing record for the Dow since July.  After U.S. officials indicated on Friday that a trade deal with China could be signed this month, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Sunday that licenses for U.S. companies to sell components to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd would come “very shortly.”

In May, Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms equipment provider, was put under a U.S. blacklist citing national security concerns.  Sectors considered among the most sensitive to the trade war climbed. The S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT rose 0.6%, the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX hit a record high and the S&P industrials index .SPLRCI climbed 1.2%.  Optimism about progress with China after Friday’s market highs is “making it easier for investors to continue buying and climbing a wall of worry,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.  Energy shares jumped along with gains in oil prices, with the S&P 500 energy index .SPNY rising 3.2%, while the S&P 500 financial index .SPSY climbed 0.9%, helped by shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) after it topped expectations for quarterly operating profit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 114.75 points, or 0.42%, to 27,462.11, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.36 points, or 0.37%, to 3,078.27 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 46.80 points, or 0.56%, to 8,433.20.  Last week’s interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, hopes of a trade deal and a better-than-feared October jobs growth report have been the main catalysts of the recent rally. 

Limiting the day’s gains was a roughly 2.7% drop in shares of McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N), which dismissed Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook over a consensual relationship with an employee.

The third-quarter earnings season has been fairly upbeat, with the majority of S&P 500 companies beating profit expectations so far, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Under Armour Inc (UAA.N) shares fell 18.9% on Monday as the sportswear maker lowered its full-year revenue forecast for a second time this year, a day after it confirmed a federal probe related to its accounting practices. 

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.69-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.62-to-1 ratio favored advancers.  The S&P 500 posted 68 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 143 new highs and 38 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.53 billion shares, compared to the 6.55 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.