Major US stocks rose slightly amid conflicting reports on US-China trade relations. The focus was also on the new block of strong quarterly reporting of the corporate segment.

China's Commerce Department said Thursday that Beijing agreed with Washington to phase out existing trade tariffs between the two countries in order to reach the so-called “first phase” trade agreement. In addition, China's Xinhua State News Agency reported that Beijing is also considering lifting restrictions on poultry imports. Then Fox news reported that the US and China want to conclude the first stage of the deal on paper by the end of next week. However, Reuters, citing a source in the White House, reported that the White House plan to reduce tariffs for China is facing stiff internal opposition; and the final decision has not yet been made

Qualcomm (QCOM) reported quarterly earnings of $ 0.78 per share, up $ 0.07 per share from analysts. The company's revenue also exceeded forecasts. Qualcomm’s results were backed up by licensing operations, primarily through Apple’s licensing agreement (AAPL). QCOM shares jumped 6.3%.

Both Baidu (BIDU )’s third-quarter earnings and revenues surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, mainly due to an increase in its subscription to its iQiyi (IQ) video streaming service. BIDU shares soared 13.5%.

Investors also studied the Department of Labor report, which showed that initial US unemployment benefits fell more than expected in the week ending November 2. According to the report, the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits fell to 211,000, which is 8,000 less than the revised level of the previous week at 219,000 people. Economists had expected the number of applications to drop to 215,000 from the 218,000 reported earlier the previous week. The number of requests indicates good conditions in the labor market. In October, employment grew faster than expected, with the addition of 128,000 jobs, despite the General Motors strike striking down 46,000 workers at automakers in Michigan and Kentucky.

Most of the DOW components completed trading in positive territory (22 of 30). The biggest gainers were Dow Inc. (DOW; + 2.80%). Outsiders were shares of Pfizer Inc. (PFE; -1.86%).

Most S&P sectors recorded an increase. The base materials sector grew the most (+ 1.0%). The largest decline was shown by the utilities sector (-1.1%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 27,674.80 +182.24 +0.66%

S&P 500 3,085.18 +8.40 +0.27%

Nasdaq 100 8,434.52 +23.89 +0.28%

U.S. stock-index futures rose on Thursday amid signs of progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a new slew of largely upbeat earnings reports.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Twitter (TWTR) downgraded to Underperform from In-line at Evercore ISI

Baidu (BIDU) reported Q3 FY 2019 earnings of $1.76 per share (versus $2.77 in Q3 FY 2018), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.17.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $3.929 bln (-4.4% y/y), generally in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $3.889 bln.

The company also issues in-line guidance for Q4 FY 2019, projecting revenues of $3.78-4.02 bln versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $3.9 bln.

BIDU rose to $114.50 (+6.65%) in pre-market trading.