Dow shakes off trade-war angst to end 180 points higher after Fed minutes, ahead of jobs report

U.S. stocks finished Thursday's trade solidly higher--a day after the Fourth of July break--as investors appeared to dismiss worries about an impending deadline on trade between the U.S. and China, and the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve that acknowledged the potential for tariff disputes to harm domestic economic expansion. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.75% closed up about 180 points, or 0.8%, at 24,356(on a preliminary basis), the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.86% rose by 0.9% at 2,737, powered by gains in technology XLK, +1.41% health-care XLV, +1.04% and consumer-staples XLP, +1.38% shares of at least 1%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.12% finished up about 1.1% at 7,586. An account of the June meeting from the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee's two-day convention ended June 13 pointed to unease over trade clashes that could hold back economic growth but not sufficiently to prevent the Fed from hiking benchmark interest rates. The central bank raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point last month to a range between 1.75% and 2% and indicated that a further two rate increases were in the cards for 2018. Meanwhile, the U.S. is scheduled to impose tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports Friday, and China is expected to counter with corresponding tariffs on U.S. imports in less than 24 hours, marking a mounting tit-for-tat conflict between the world's largest economies that has threatened to rattle global markets. Equity and commodity exchanges in the U.S. were closed in observance of Independence Day on Wednesday. Looking ahead, investors will await a key report on jobs on Friday that could influence investor sentiment. The day's action began on a high note on reports that suggested the U.S. was softening its stance against the European Union, with an offer of a "zero solution" to car tariffs. In corporate news, shares of Qorvo Inc. QRVO, +5.66% were the best performer S&P 500, up about 5.7%, while CF Industries Holdings Inc. CF, -2.73% posted the steepest decline, off 2.7%.

Quote References DJIA +181.92 +0.75% SPX +23.39 +0.86% XLK +0.98 +1.41% XLV +0.87 +1.04% XLP +0.71 +1.38% COMP +83.75 +1.12% QRVO +4.38 +5.66% CF -1.21 -2.73% Show all references MarketWatch Partner Center Most Popular Brace for a lost decade for U.S. stocks, warn Morningstar strategists Harvard University is fighting to keep its secretive admissions process under wraps Tech rally leads stocks higher; trade and Fed minutes also in focus The 21st Century has not been the American Century Mortgage rates fall to 3-month low as flight to safety rolls on $(function() { if (window.MutationObserver) { // arrive breaks if MutationObserver not supported by browser $("#dianomiRightRail").arrive(".dianom