US Close 2 Nov 18: US stocks gain ground for a third session

 US sharemarkets began November positively on trade optimism. US President Trump said in a tweet that he had a "long and very good conversation" with Chinese President Xi Jinping on trade with the scheduled G20 meeting between the two likely to go ahead in Argentina. Trade-sensitive companies Boeing (+2.3%) and Caterpillar (+2.8%) shares led market gains. Strong quarterly earnings results from chemicals producer DowDuPont (+8.1%) also boosted sentiment. The Dow Jones ended up by 264 points or 1.1%. The S&P500 index rose by 1.1% and the Nasdaq index gained 128 points or 1.8%.

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