US Stock Markets Rise Amid Job Openings Drop; China Retaliates with Tariffs

The Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow posted gains, fueled by optimism over job openings decline.

The Nasdaq jumped 262.06 points (1.4%) to 19,654.02, the S&P 500 climbed 43.31 points (0.7%) to 6,037.88 and the Dow rose 134.13 points (0.3%) to 44,556.04.

Labor Department released a report showing job openings in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in the month of December. The report said job openings tumbled to 7.6 million in December after climbing to an upwardly revised 8.2 million in November. The data led to some optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of the Labor Department's more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off news that China has slapped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports in response to a 10% trade duty imposed on Chinese goods. China's Finance Ministry said it will impose a 15% duty on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the U.S. In addition, there will be a 10% tariff on imports from the U.S. of crude oil, agricultural equipment and automobiles beginning February 10.

Oil stocks moved sharply higher despite a decrease by the price of crude oil, resulting in a 3% surge by the NYSE Arca Oil Index. Computer hardware stocks were considerably strong, as reflected by the 2.5% jump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Steel, retail and networking stocks too were significantly strong moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.7% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged by 2.8%. The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slipped by 0.2%, the German DAX Index rose by 0.4% and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7%.

In the bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the day moderately higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 3.0 bps to 4.51%.

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