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Traders and financial professionals work ahead of the closing bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), June 15, 2018 in New York City.
- President Donald Trump said he would meet with China's Xi Jinping this month, easing trade concerns.
- After a string of sharp sell-offs, October was the worst month on Wall Street in seven years.
- Follow the US indexes in real time here.
Stocks jumped for a third session Thursday as the prospect of cooling trade tensions allowed Wall Street to begin recovering from its worst month in seven years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05%, or more than 250 points, after President Donald Trump said he had a "very good" talk with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and that the two plan to meet at a multilateral summit this month. The Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.75%, and the S&P 500 was up 1.05%.
"Given the fragility of the US market, any headlines or factors that could ease investors' anxiety over either the US economy or China could see buying back of oversold US cyclical names," said Masanari Takada, an analyst at Nomura.
Earnings season continued, with Spotify posting a jump in subscribers in the third quarter but disappointing on guidance. Royal Dutch Shell also beat, reporting its highest profit in four years. Apple, Starbucks, Shake Shack and Kraft Heinz are scheduled to report after the bell.
Trade optimism was met with gloomy economic data earlier Thursday. Manufacturing activity in the US slowed to a six-month low in October, according to the Institute for Supply Management, in part thanks to rising protectionism.
"In one line: Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs," Ian Sheperdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in an email. "For the consumer, the tariffs are for the most part still an abstract idea, but for manufacturers they are real, and a big problem."
Possibly helping the mood, signs of a tightening job market are expected to show up in a monthly Labor Department report out Friday. US companies added the most jobs in eight months in October, the ADP Research Institute said this week.
Meanwhile, investors moved toward US government bonds, with yields on the 10-year Treasury note falling 1.5 basis points to 3.144%. The dollar retreated from its highest point in more than a year, shedding 0.9% to 96.3 against a basket of currencies.
"The move reflects the reversal of month-end rebalancing alongside another move by the Chinese to inject economic stimulus," said Mark McCormick, head of North American strategy at TD Securities.