Stocks Ended Higher on EU-U.S Trade Talks

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday on the heels of reports that President Donald Trump and European Union official Jean-Claude Juncker have avoided a trade war between the U.S. and the EU. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose +172.16 points, or 0.68%, to 25,414.10. The S&P 500 gained 25.67 points, or 0.91%, to 2,846.07. The Nasdaq Composite added 91.47 points, or 1.17%, to 7,932.24.

Oil ended higher on Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark extending gains after a larger-than-expected drop in weekly inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose 78 cents, or 1.1%, to close at $69.30 a barrel. September Brent crude gained 49 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $73.93 a barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has secured concessions from the European Union to avoid a trade war, CNBC reported on Wednesday. The EU has agreed to import more soybeans, lower industrial tariffs, and work more on liquefied natural gas exports, the report said.

Facebook (FB) on Wednesday afternoon reported second-quarter earnings that just missed Wall Street’s estimates on revenues and user growth. For the second quarter, the social network reported earnings-per-share of $1.74 on revenues of $13.23 billion, as well as 2.23 billion monthly active users.

Ford Motor Co on Wednesday posted a second-quarter net profit that was down by almost half from the prior-year period, missing analyst expectations. The No. 2 U.S. automaker reported a second-quarter net profit of $1.07 billion, or 27 cents a share, compared with $2.05 billion, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier.