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The Dow Jones today opened higher as Wall Street's concerns about a trade war between the United States and China subsided. In a significant development over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump offered a major concession to Chinese President Xi Jinping to help improve trade relations.
According to President Trump, the two are working to give Chinese telecom firm ZTE Corp. "a way to get back into business, fast." ZTE suspended its operations in the United States last month after the U.S. Commerce Department banned American companies from providing supplies to one of the world's biggest mobile equipment makers.
But first, here are the numbers from Friday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
| Index | Previous Close | Point Change | Percentage Change |
| Dow Jones | 24,831 | 73.00 | 0.29% |
| S&P 500 | 2,727.72 | 5.02 | 0.18% |
| Nasdaq | 7,402.88 | 8.92 | 0.12% |
Now here's a closer look at today's Money Morning insight, as well as the most important market events and stocks.
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Money Morning Insight of the Day
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The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
- Markets are playing close attention to ongoing efforts to renegotiate the NAFTA deal. Last week, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said that the United States, Canada, and Mexico must complete a deal before May 17 in order to receive a vote in Congress by the end of the year.
- Crude oil continues to find support thanks to President Trump's decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal. Oil prices are up marginally this morning even though U.S. drilling continues to rise. And they are sitting near multi-year highs, as expected sanctions on Iran have tightened the global supply outlook in the year ahead. In fact, prices could continue to rise on news that the Trump administration is considering efforts for regime change in Iran.
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Three Stocks to Watch Today: COP, HD, HSBC
- ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) has seized assets from the Venezuelan-owned firm PDVSA in the Caribbean. The company won a court case that will allow it to take over assets owned by the Venezuelan government. The court enabled the seizures as part of a broader plan to allow the firm to recoup roughly $2 billion following the 2007 nationalization of its assets in Venezuela by the huge Castro-led government.
- Monday will be a quiet day on the earnings front. Investors are looking to Tuesday's calendar, when The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reports earnings. Tomorrow, Wall Street analysts expect that Home Depot will report earnings per share of $2.07 on top of $25.2 billion in revenue. Investors will be hoping that the company reports strong profits thanks to an improving U.S. economy and the recent tax reform law.
- Expect a lot of chatter today about blockchain technology. That's because ING Bank and HSBC Holdings Plc. (NYSE: HSBC) announced over the weekend that they engaged in their first trade ever using blockchain technology. The two engaged in a trade on behalf of Cargill to finance a shipment of soybeans from Argentina to Malaysia.
- Today, look for earnings reports from Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A), Itron Inc. (Nasdaq: ITRI), Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq: VIPS), Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRS), Sky Solar Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq: SKYS), Mazor Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: MZOR), China Lodging Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: HTHT), and Mimecast Ltd. (Nasdaq: MIME).
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About the Author
Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, and consultant with degrees from Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, and Indiana University. He is a seasoned financial and political risk analyst, with a focus on stocks, hedge funds, private equity, blockchain, and housing policy. He has conducted risk assessment projects for clients in 27 countries, and consulted on policy and financial operations for some of the nation's largest financial institutions, including a $1.5 trillion credit fund, a $43 billion credit and auto loan giant, as well as two of the largest Wall Street banks by assets under management.
Garrett joined Money Map Press as an economist and researcher in 2011, specializing in alternative strategies with an emphasis on fundamental and technical analysis.