Dow ends with more than 300-point gain on report of U.S.-China ‘phase one’ trade agreement

Stocks posted solid gains on Friday, but came off intraday highs, after President Donald Trump said the U.S. had reached a "phase one deal" between the U.S. and China. Negotiators from both sides capped their two-day talks. The S&P 500 SPX, +1.09% finished up by 1.1% to around 2,970. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.21% advanced 318 points, or 1.2%, to end around 26,815, based on preliminary numbers. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.34% ended higher by 1.3% to 8,057. For the week, the S&P 500 was up 0.6%, the Dow was up 0.9%, and Nasdaq was up 0.9%. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said tariffs would not go into place next week. Earlier, the Federal Reserve had announced the central bank would buy $60 billion of Treasury bills every month at least into the second-quarter, starting from next week. In company news, shares of Apple Inc. AAPL, +2.66% rose 2.8% to close at an all-time high.

Trump Announces ‘Phase One’ Of U.S.-China Trade Deal

Following two days of closely watched trade talks, President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that the U.S. and China have reached a “very substantial phase one deal.”

Trump said the deal includes up to $40 to $50 billion in Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products as well as Chinese concessions on intellectual property and financial services.

In exchange for the concessions by China, the U.S. has agreed to hold off on an increase in tariffs originally scheduled for next week.

Trump said the agreement would take about three weeks to write and would likely be signed by both sides by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile in November.

“Phase two will start almost immediately” after the first phase is signed, Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with China’s lead negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He.

Trump made upbeat comments about the negotiations on Twitter earlier in the day, tweeting, “Good things are happening at China Trade Talk Meeting. Warmer feelings than in recent past, more like the Old Days.”

Trump noted in a subsequent tweet that a potential trade deal with China would not have to go through the “very long and politically complex Congressional Approval Process.”

Mastercard and eBay will exit Facebook’s Libra, following PayPal

Mastercard Inc. MA, +0.76% and eBay Inc. EBAY, +1.63% said Friday that they were withdrawing from Facebook Inc.’s FB, +2.31% Libra cryptocurrency project, joining PayPal Holdings Inc.PYPL, +1.03%, which announced its plan to leave a week earlier. "Mastercard has decided it will not become a member of the Libra Association at this time," the company said in a statement. "We remain focused on our strategy and our own significant efforts to enable financial inclusion around the world." Mastercard said it would continue to monitor the progress of the Libra effort. An eBay spokesperson said that while the company respects "the vision of the Libra Association," the e-commerce giant won’t be continuing as a founding member. "At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers," the spokesperson said. Stripe is also planning to withdraw, according to Dow Jones reporting. Representatives of Stripe and Facebook didn’t immediately respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment. Facebook shares are off 8.5% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX, +1.09% has dropped 1%.

Trump Says U.S.-China Reach Partial ‘Phase One’ Trade Deal

President Donald Trump said the U.S. and China reached a “phase one” agreement Friday to broker a truce in the trade war.

Under the pact, the U.S. is suspending a planned tariff increase for Oct. 15, and China agreed to some agricultural concessions.

Still, he told reporters at the White House on Friday that the deal isn’t in writing yet. Trump said it will take three to five weeks to put on paper.

While the limited agreement may resolve some short-term issues, several of the thorniest disputes remain. U.S. goals in the trade war center around accusations of intellectual-property theft, forced technology transfer and complaints about Chinese industrial subsidies.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the initial deal includes opening markets to financial services firms.

Frank Lampard wants Chelsea players to talk about Brexit instead of footie

DISH Reaches Multi-year Carriage Agreement With Fox

U.S. satellite TV provider DISH Network corp. (DISH) said Sunday that it reached a multi-year carriage agreement with Fox Corp. for its owned-and-operated local stations, as well as FS1, FS2, BTN, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes. The company did not provide details of the terms of the agreement.

“We appreciate our customers’ patience as we worked to reach a long-term agreement that restores the Fox networks and local broadcast stations,” DISH said in a statement.

Fox owned-and-operated local stations, FS1 and FS2 were restored on DISH and its online service Sling TV. BTN, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes were restored on DISH.

The Fox channels went dark to Dish customers on September 26 after the two companies could not reach an agreement. Dish had claimed that Fox was demanding double-digit pricing increases while Fox claimed the satellite TV service provider was using the blackout as a negotiating ploy. In the end the two companies reached a compromise.

“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Dish and Sling, and they are immediately restoring their subscribers’ access to the Fox networks and television stations,” Fox said Sunday.