US: Stocks gain for third straight day; Dow +1.1%

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks advanced for the third straight session on Thursday, bouncing after selling off for most of October, and helped by new optimism over US-China trade relations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.1 per cent at 25,380.74.

The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 1.1 per cent to 2,740.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.8 per cent to 7,434.06.

US stocks were in the green most of the day, picking up momentum after US President Donald Trump reported on Twitter after a discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping that talks were "moving along nicely" over a trade fight that has upset investors.

While investors are likely to take Mr Trump's comment with a grain of salt so soon to next week's congressional elections, the statement was still encouraging, said Maris Ogg, president at Tower Bridge Advisors.

"We've learned in the last year that tariffs are probably not a strategy but a tactic," Mr Ogg said. "So the market gets a little encouraged when it seems there might be some light at the end of the tunnel."

Mr Ogg also cited "momentum carryover" after positive sessions the prior two days helped the market to correct an "oversold" situation.

Some companies that had faltered in October scored strong gains, including Amazon, up 4.2 per cent, Caterpillar, up 2.8 per cent and Hasbro, up 6.4 per cent.

DowDuPont shot up 8.1 per cent after reporting third-quarter earnings of 74 cents per share, three cents above analyst expectations.

But Google parent Alphabet fell 0.6 per cent as thousands of employees from around the world staged the "Google Walkout For Real Change" in protest of the company's handling of sexual misconduct claims.

AFP