Truce sends stocks higher

A welcome truce in the escalating U.S.-China trade dispute put investors in a buying mood Monday, sending U.S. stocks solidly higher and extending the market’s gains from last week.

The broad rally, which lost some of its early morning momentum, followed gains in overseas markets as investors welcomed news of the temporary, 90-day stand-down, which was agreed to over dinner between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit over the weekend.

The long-running dispute between the world’s two largest economies has rattled investors for months, stoking traders’ fears that it could begin dragging down corporate profits and weighing on global economic growth.

“We’re going to have to see what happens over these 90 days,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. “In the meantime, you’re not getting an increase in the tariffs, so that’s an interim positive.”

The encouraging development on trade helped extend a swift turnaround for the market, which notched its biggest weekly gain in nearly seven years last week after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the central bank might consider a pause in rate hikes next year while it gauges the impact of its credit tightening program.

Technology stocks, automakers, retailers and industrial companies accounted for much of the market’s gains Monday, offsetting losses in household goods makers. Energy stocks also climbed as U.S. crude oil prices rose sharply.

U.S. traders observed a moment of silence before markets opened Monday in honor of former President George H.W. Bush, who died Friday at 94.