Stock market news: August 13, 2019 – Yahoo Finance

U.S. stocks jumped after the Trump administration announced it would be delaying tariffs on certain goods from China beyond the previous September 1 deadline. The news also sent bond yields higher, after the curve flattened the most in more than a decade earlier in the session.

Here were the main moves in the market, as of 10:32 a.m. ET:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +1.96%, or 56.39 points

• Dow (^DJI): +1.94%, or 503.34 points

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +2.22%, or 174.57 points

• 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX): +7.5 bps to 1.715%

• U.S. dollar to onshore Chinese yuan rate (CNY=X): +0.0992% to 7.0647

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Tuesday that products including “cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing” would not be hit with a 10% tariff until December 15. Originally, President Donald Trump announced at the start of August that he would be imposing a 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting September 1, which would have included many of these items.

“Certain products are being removed from the tariff list based on health, safety, national security and other factors and will not face additional tariffs of 10 percent,” the USTR said in a statement.

Shares of Apple (AAPL) led the Dow higher, with the iPhone-maker’s stock up more than 4.5% after the USTR’s statement.

The announcement came after China’s vice premier Liu He spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over the phone Tuesday night, according to China’s state-run media agency Xinhua. Both sides agreed to conduct another call in two weeks following the discussions, which reportedly focused on the 10% tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods,

Earlier in the session, falling bond yields and a narrowing spread between the closely watched 10-year and 2-year yields sent contracts on the three major stock indices lower, before the USTR’s announcement sparked a resurgence in equities. Even after the news, shorter-term yields rose more than those on the longer end of the curve.

Uncertainty about the global outlook had also added to investor jitters, with geopolitical unrest mounting everywhere from Latin America to Asia.

Argentina’s peso plummeted to a record low of about 60 per dollar Monday and remained weaker than 50-per-dollar into Tuesday’s session, after center-right President Mauricio Macri performed worse-than-expected in primary elections over the weekend. The weak performance by the more market-friendly leader sent Argentine equities tumbling, with the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT) down more than 24% Monday before paring some losses Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China fixed its yuan at 7.0326 per dollar Tuesday, marking the fourth straight session with the currency weaker than the psychological 7-per-dollar level. However, this was still stronger than expected by consensus analysts, according to Reuters-compiled estimates. The yuan against the U.S. dollar remains a closely monitored currency pair after the Treasury Department officially designated China a currency manipulator last week, amid an ongoing trade war with the U.S.

In Hong Kong, flights were canceled out of Hong Kong International Airport for a second consecutive day as pro-democracy protesters overtook the global transportation hub. This marked the fifth straight day that activists flooded the airport, with sit-ins starting in one of the busiest commuter centers in the world starting Friday.

Shares of Cathay Pacific (0293.HK), a Hong Kong-based airline, fell 2.5% Tuesday on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, extending Monday’s declines. The airline said over the weekend that it would cooperate with China’s aviation authority prohibiting staff members who supported the Hong Kong protests from flying to and over mainland China.