NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday as investor concerns about rising trade tensions between the United States and China eased after Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to cut import tariffs.
The technology sector .SPLRCT, which would be particularly exposed to a negative impact from tense trade relations with China, provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500.
Xi said China will widen market access for foreign investors, a point of contention for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
His comments buoyed global markets, which have been under pressure as China and the United States threatened each other with billions of dollars in tariffs.
“With (Xi’s comments), we got the signal for ‘risk on’ in trading today,” said Mariann Montagne, portfolio manager at Gradient Investments in Arden Hills, Minnesota. “That’s why we’ve seen tech and biotech performing very strongly today.”
Facebook shares added the most gains to the S&P 500, rising 4.5 percent after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg began his testimony before Congress and took questions from lawmakers. It was the biggest one-day percentage gain for the stock in nearly two years.
Zuckerberg’s testimony aimed to strike a conciliatory tone in an attempt to blunt possible regulatory fallout from the privacy scandal engulfing his social network.
The energy index .SPNY had the highest percentage gain among the S&P’s 11 major sectors, adding 3.3 percent as oil broke above $70 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 428.9 points, or 1.79 percent, to 24,408, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 43.71 points, or 1.67 percent, to 2,656.87 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 143.96 points, or 2.07 percent, to 7,094.30.
