Optimism over US-China trade agreement sends three major indexes to 'record highs'... Tech stocks strong [New York market briefing]

Optimism about US-China trade talks grew, pushing all three major New York stock market indexes to finish at record highs.

On the 27th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 47,544.59, up 337.47 points (0.71%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index rose 83.47 points (1.23%) to 6,875.16, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 23,637.46, up 432.59 points (1.86%). With the gains that day, all three major indexes reached record highs.

The optimism is attributed to growing hopes for a trade agreement ahead of a US-China summit. The delegations, led respectively by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, produced a tentative agreement at high-level trade talks held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the 25th–26th.

US President Donald Trump, after finishing his visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, told reporters on his private plane en route to Tokyo, Japan, that "I think the US-China negotiations will reach an agreement," expressing optimism about a final deal.

With President Trump expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on the sidelines of the Gyeongju Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, investors expected both the US and China to withdraw additional tariff measures and rare-earth export controls. As a result, investor sentiment improved and buying flowed into technology stocks.

Nvidia and AMD rose 2.81% and 2.7% respectively, and Tesla gained 4.3%. Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Apple also closed up 3.6% and 2.25% respectively. Qualcomm surged 11.09% after previewing the launch of its latest artificial intelligence (AI) chip to take on Nvidia.

By sector, technology rose more than 2%, and all sectors except materials and consumer staples were higher.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, the federal funds futures market reflected a 93% probability of a 0.5% percentage-point rate cut by December. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 3.54% to 15.79.

Reporter Jeong-sam Ko, Hankyung.com jsk@hankyung.com