US Stocks Back to Record High Momentum as China Affirms Signing of Phase One Trade Deal

NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Wall Street regained its record-high setting momentum on Thursday as China affirmed it will sign the Phase One trade deal with the United States next week, driving US stock prices to fresh all-time peaks.

Traders said the perception that the United States was not being pressed into a war with Iran, as well as the drop in weekly US jobless claims, also contributed to driving equity markets higher.

The top US stocks barometer, the S&P500, which measures the value of the 500 largest US corporations by market capitalization, was up 0.5 percent at 3,268 at 10:15 a.m.

STOCK MARKET AT ALL-TIME HIGH! HOW ARE YOUR 401K’S DOING? 70%, 80%, 90% up? Only 50% up! What are you doing wrong?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 9 января 2020 г.

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The S&P 500 hit a record high of 3,272 earlier after China's commerce ministry said Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington between January 13 and 15 to sign the Phase One deal with the United States.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.7 percent at 9,198. It hit a record high of 9,212 earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent to 28,871, after an all-time high of 28,919 earlier. The Dow closed 2019 up 23 percent for its best performance in two years.