US equity markets built on the solid gains of last week albeit both the Dow and S&P500 closed off their session highs. News that President Trump had shelved plans to impose tariffs on Mexico after reaching a deal with the country on plans to stem the flow of illegal immigration lifted the Dow +79-points or +0.30% to log its sixth straight session advance - its longest winning streak since May 2018 - albeit paring an earlier climb of ~227-points. The broader S&P500 +0.47% (to 2,886.73) to sit just 2.2% shy of its record intra-day high (2,954.13) struck back on 1 May. Ford and General Motors gained +1.5% and +0.6% respectively following news of the halt to Mexican tariffs. The technology-centric NASDAQ outperformed with a +1.05% rally, with Amazon.com Inc gaining +3.14%. Chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices gained 2% and 2.5% respectively amid reports that the White House acting budget chief is reportedly seeking to delay the restrictions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which would halt its ability to purchase US-made chips. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, defense contractor Raytheon Co (up +0.69%) and United Technologies Corp (down -3.1%) agreed to an all-stock merger that would create a combined company with US$74Bin annual sales. Separately, Salesforce.com Inc (down -5.26%) announced its acquisition of big data company Tableau Software Inc (up 33.7%) in a US$15.3B all-stock deal. Merck & Co Inc (up +0.02%) said it would buy privately held pharmaceutical company Tilos Therapeutics in a deal that could be worth as much as US$773M. US markets rallied solidly last Friday (7 June) to cap a strong week after a weaker-than-expected jobs report added to expectations that the Federal Reserve would carry out rate cuts as soon as July - Dow up +263-points or +1.02%, with Microsoft Corporation (+2.8% to US$131.40) and Apple Inc (+2.66%) pacing the gains. Microsoft's market capitalisation climbed above the US$1 trillion mark for a second time after surpassing its 30 April record close (of US$130.60) It was the first time that the Dow advanced for all five session of the week since May 2018. The broader S&P500 gained +1.05%, with Information Technology (up +1.93%) leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. The NASDAQ rallied +1.66%. International Business Machines Corp (up +0.82%) is cutting about 2,000 jobs in a round of layoffs this week, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the technology giant works to reshape its business.Investor sentiment was also underpinned by news that the US government was granting Chinese exporters two more weeks (until 15 June) to get some of their products into the US before lifting tariffs on those items. The products must still have left China by 10 May when the tariffs were announced. However, the Trump administration pushed ahead on Friday (7 June) with a plan to slap a 5% tariff on imports from Mexico, as the two sides started a third day of talks to reach a deal to stem the flow of mostly Central American migrants into the United States. For the week, the Dow rose +4.71% to snap a six week losing streak, S&P500 +4.41% and Nasdaq +3.88%.
