U.S. Stocks Rise as Huawei Ban Is Delayed
May 21 2019 - 1:34PM
Dow Jones News
By Nathan Allen and Akane Otani
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, buoyed by gains in the technology
sector, after the White House said it would grant temporary
exemptions to an export blacklist against Huawei Technologies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 156 points, or 0.6%, to
25836. The S&P 500 added 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced
1.1%.
Shares of chip makers and hardware manufacturers bounced higher,
helping major indexes chip away at some of their losses from the
start of the week. Analysts attributed the gains to U.S. officials'
plans to give some suppliers and customers of Huawei a reprieve
from trade penalties -- something they said would help ease
tensions between the U.S. and China as they attempt to resume trade
talks.
The move "gives both sides more time to cool down and consider
whether they're going to take the step into the abyss," said John
Vail, chief global strategist at Nikko Asset Management.
Semiconductor firm Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.9%, while hard
disk drive manufacturer Western Digital added 3.6% and chip maker
Intel gained 2.3%.
Gains in shares of industrial companies also gave major indexes
a lift. Many such companies have been viewed as proxies for
investors' optimism about trade, since their businesses are closely
tied to global growth.
Caterpillar rose 1.8% and Boeing added 0.9%.
As uncertainty over the U.S. and China's trade fight has risen
over the past few weeks, analysts have raised fresh concerns about
the long-term outlook for the global economy.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned
in a report Tuesday that uncertainty over trade has derailed global
growth over the past year and threatens to dampen future economic
expansion.
"This won't be a one-day event. Huawei is entrenched on so many
parts of the tech sector, this could take days or weeks to
untangle," said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital
Group. He added that Monday's stock pullback was a "reality check"
for U.S. officials that illustrated how pervasive Huawei's goods
are and how intertwined the group has become with its counterparts
in the U.S.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 advanced 0.5% to snap a two-day
losing streak.
The British pound sank to a four-month low against the U.S.
dollar as investors grappled with fresh worries about Brexit ahead
of the European elections. Talks between Ms. May and the opposition
Labour Party failed last week, raising fears that the U.K. might be
headed toward a so-called hard Brexit.
"With PM May's tenure heading into the final stretch it appears
unlikely that a last-ditch attempt to get her withdrawal agreement
through parliament next month will be successful," said David
Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB.
Stocks in Asia ended mixed, with the Shanghai Composite rising
1.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing 0.5% for its third straight
session of declines.
Write to Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2019 13:19 ET (17:19 GMT)
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