Macro news looking promising too. If Powell goes dovish on proposed hikes (and he has every reason to) combined with a thaw between US/China on the tariffs...the Christmas rally is on!
Wall Street Overview
Stocks rose on Wednesday, Nov. 28, as investors cheered reports of a possible breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks ahead of this weekend's G-20 summit in Argentina, and as Wall Street awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters that Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping would meet for dinner at the summit on Saturday, Dec. 1. While he cautioned that China's president "has an opportunity to change the tone and the substance of these talks," he nonetheless suggested that "President Trump has indicated he is open" to making a deal to resolve ongoing trade tensions and possibly halt new tariffs on China-made goods.
China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, told Reuters that an all-out trade war between the world's two biggest economies was "unimaginable" and hoped the weekend talks could result in a way forward.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 133 points, or 0.54%, to 24,882, the S&P 500 was up 0.23%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.39%.
Gross domestic product in the third quarter rose 3.5% on an annual basis, unchanged from the Commerce Department's previous estimate in October. GDP in the U.S. grew at a 4.2% pace in the second quarter.
Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, in an interview with the Washington Post in which he accused the central bank of pushing U.S. stocks lower and triggering a decision by General Motors Co. (GM - Get Report) to shutter five plants in North America and two additional plants outside of North America, and cut 15% of its salaried workforce.
Trump told the Post in an interview that he wasn't "even a little bit happy with my selection" of Powell to head the Federal Reserve, adding that the Fed's current stance on interest rates was "way off base." Trump's remarks followed a similar interview with The Wall Street Journal in which he accused the central bank of being a "bigger problem than China" and comes just hours ahead of a key speech on monetary policy from Powell Wednesday in New York.
Powell is expected to appear at a luncheon at the Economic Club in New York at 11:30 a.m. ET.
(20min delay)