Stocks jump with tech shares; dollar dips after recent gains

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Major stock indexes rose on Thursday, with technology shares leading Wall Street higher as investors awaited further developments in the U.S.-China trade conflict, while the dollar slipped after recent gains.

The S&P 500 technology sector jumped 3.5% on the day, the most of any sector in the benchmark index.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet were up more than 3% in after-hours trading following the release of its first-quarter results, including earnings that beat analysts' expectations. The stock ended the regular session up 2.5%. Other results from top U.S. tech-related companies are still to come this earnings season.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that trade talks between the U.S. and China are under way, pushing back against Chinese claims that no discussions have taken place to ease the ongoing trade war.

Beijing also said earlier that the U.S. should remove all "unilateral tariff measures" against China "if it truly wanted" to solve the trade issue. The White House on Wednesday signaled it was open to reducing sweeping tariffs on China.

Trump's tariff war has created much volatility for markets in recent weeks, with myriad announcements on and changes to tariff plans.

"There's still a lot of volatility but add to that a stock market that was oversold by virtually all measures," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta.

First-quarter earnings reports overall have been mixed, with businesses across multiple industries saying they're increasing prices and uncertain about the outlook because of Trump's trade war and policies.

Dove soap maker Unilever flagged weakening U.S. consumer confidence, while shares of International Business Machines slumped after the company said 15 of its government contracts were shelved under a cost-cutting drive by the Trump administration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 486.83 points, or 1.23%, to 40,093.40, the S&P 500 rose 108.91 points, or 2.03%, to 5,484.77 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 457.99 points, or 2.74%, to 17,166.04.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 11.65 points, or 1.44%, to 819.86. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 0.36%.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5%. Reuters reported that Japanese tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa was making final arrangements to visit the United States from April 30 to hold a second round of talks with his counterpart.

Economic data on Thursday showed, among other things, the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, suggesting the labor market remained resilient.

U.S. Treasury yields declined amid hopes for lower-than-feared tariffs. Investors also weighed the possibility of a first interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in June.

Fed Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack on Thursday called for patience on monetary policy given high levels of uncertainty, but did not rule out an interest rate cut in June, depending on economic data.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 7.8 basis points to 4.309%, from 4.387% late on Wednesday.

Over the last week, Trump has made verbal attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, then retracted calls for his resignation.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department sold $44 billion in seven-year notes, the last of this week's coupon debt issuance. A two-year auction on Tuesday was soft, while a five-year debt sale met good demand on Wednesday.

The dollar eased against major currencies. The euro was up 0.63% against the dollar at $1.1383. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.58% to 142.61.

The dollar rallied on Wednesday, but it has been among the biggest casualties of Trump's on-and-off tariffs and was set for declines for the month.

Gold prices gained after falling more than 3% in the previous session, with spot gold rising 1.4% to $3,333.90 an ounce. Oil prices also rose as investors weighed the weaker U.S. dollar. Brent crude futures rose 43 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $66.55 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 52 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $62.79.

(Additional reporting Alun John in London and Stephen Culp in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Nick Zieminski and Daniel Wallis)