Investing.com – Wall Street rallied Wednesday as traders cheered progress on trade amid a report the EU has agreed to cut tariffs, averting a trade war with the United States.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 0.68%. The S&P 500 rose 0.91%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell about 1.17%.
Stocks staged a late-session rally on a report that EU had agreed to a host of measures aimed at easing U.S.-EU trade restrictions, averting the prospect of a trade war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an EU official.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to work with the White House to lower industrial tariffs on both sides, increase natural gas exports and soy beans to Europe and harmonize regulatory standards to allow for medical devices to have better market access in Europe, the official said, according to WSJ.
Easing trade-war tensions sent stocks into rally mode, offsetting concerns about mixed earnings from a raft of well-known U.S. corporates.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) stock fell about 4.6% as it cut its 2018 profit forecast, citing higher steel and aluminium costs in the wake of tariffs imposed by Trump. Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock fell 0.63% after it guided full-year core earnings below consensus.
AT&T (NYSE:T) stock lost about 4.5% after reporting mixed second-quarter results as earnings beat consensus, but revenue fell short. That weighed on the broader telecom sector as it posted a 2% loss, limiting gains in the broader market.
A rally in tech and energy stocks also supported sentiment on equities as the latter benefited from a continued rise in oil prices after U.S. crude inventories fell sharply as imports shrunk.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock tumbled in after-hours trading immediately after reporting that second-quarter revenue and daily active users fell short of estimates.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for September delivery gained 1% to settle at $69.30 a barrel.
In economic news, sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell to an eight-month low in June, but that had muted impact on direction as analysts said the underlying trend of new homes sales remained robust.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday new home sales fell 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 631,000 units last month, the lowest level since October 2017.
"We continue to believe the housing market recovery will continue to unfold over the next 12-18 months at a moderate pace, as we expect demand to improve, driven by job growth and modestly easing credit conditions," JPMorgan said Tuesday.
On the mergers and acquisitions front, Qualcomm reportedly said it no longer expects the Chinese government to green-light its acquisition of NXP Semiconductors.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) stock soared in aftermarket hours, however, after beating Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Top Gainers and Losers on Wall Street Today:
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Visa (NYSE:V) were among the top Dow gainers for the session.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) , Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) were among the worst Dow performers of the session.