US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Rally Ahead of Trump/Liu He Meeting

US stocks moved higher on Thursday is driven- St by positive sentiment toward the trade talks that are taking place on Thursday and Friday. The White House announced on Thursday that President Trump said he would meet with a top envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the two sides worked toward an accord aimed at preventing currency manipulation. A larger than expected decline in US jobless claims helped buoy the dollar and yields paving the way for higher stock prices. Most sectors were higher on Thursday led by a gain in Energy and Material, Utilities bucked the trend. During the first 8-trading day of the Q4 only Real-estate is in the green.

Trump Schedule to Meet with Liu He

President Donald Trump announced he would meet with a top envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the two sides worked toward an accord aimed at preventing currency manipulation. The scheduled meeting is expected to be on Friday. Mr. Trump said he would meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House. While it is unlikely that the two sides will reach an agreement on Friday, the news of the meeting help buoy riskier asset and weigh on gold prices. Prior to the talks the White House also approved of licenses for American firms to do business with blacklisted Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies.

Jobless Claims Drop More than Expected

The Labor Department on Thursday reported that jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 210,000 for the week ended October 5. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Expectations were for claims to remain unchanged at 219,000 in the latest week. Claims had risen for three straight weeks. Some of the increase in claims could have been the result of an ongoing strike by about 50,000 workers at General Motors.

Slack See Daily Active Users Rise

Slack reported on Thursday that its number of daily active users jumped 37% from a year earlier. The maker of the popular workplace chat app said that over 12 million people used the product daily in September, up from more than 10 million as of the quarter. Slack has been under pressure to produce as Microsoft is hot on their heels.