US: Stocks gain on Mexico immigration accord

[NEW YORK] The Dow advanced for the sixth straight session on Monday with leading banking and technology companies gaining after the US called off planned tariffs on Mexico.

Wall Street's gains came after US President Donald Trump called off tariffs slated to take effect on Monday following Mexico's pledge to adopt additional measures to counter illegal immigration to the United States - but he has not taken the tariff threat off the table entirely.

"The quick deal on border security with Mexico boosted risk assets across the board, with equities, in particular, gaining ground globally," said Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.3 per cent at 26,062.68.

The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.5 per cent to end the day at 2,886.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 per cent to close at 7,823.17.

But the US is still embroiled in difficult trade negotiations with China. Mr Trump told CNBC on Monday he still expects to talk with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the upcoming G-20 summit, and warned he will impose new tariffs if Mr Xi fails to show up.

Mr Trump also revived his ongoing criticism of the Federal Reserve, calling the US central bank "very, very destructive" for raising interest rates too quickly.

Top Fed officials, who have denied that political pressure plays a role in their decisions, last week signaled they could cut interest rates in the coming months if the economy slows as a result of Mr Trump's trade conflicts, lifting the market last week.

Large banks enjoyed a strong session, with Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs all winning at least two percent as Treasury bond yields increased.

Most technology giants also won solid gains, as Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet all gained more than one percent.

Raytheon advanced 0.7 per cent while United Technologies dropped 3.1 per cent after the two companies announced a merger that will create a behemoth American aeronautics and defence company.

Analytics company Tableau Software surged 33.7 per cent after it agreed to be bought acquired by cloud computing giant Salesforce in a US$15.7 billion deal. Salesforce fell 5.3 per cent.

Kraft Heinz surged 5.5 per cent after it filed its long-delayed 2018 annual report with US securities regulators following an internal investigation of its procurement and internal controls. The company said is "returning to a path of normalisation."

AFP