U.S. stocks rebound as trade worries ease

NEW YORK, March 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session on Monday as worries about trade tensions between the United States and China appear to ease.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 312.99 points, or 1.33 percent, to 23,846.19. The S&P 500 increased 26.45 points, or 1.02 percent, to 2,614.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 76.26 points, or 1.09 percent, to 7,068.93.

On Friday, U.S. stocks slumped for a second straight session, with the Nasdaq plunging over 2.4 percent, as investors continued to digest U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to impose heavy tariffs on imported products from China.

Despite strong warnings from business groups and trade experts, Trump on Thursday signed an executive memorandum that could result in heavy tariffs on up to 60 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China as well as harsher restrictions on Chinese investments, in a unilateral move that triggered market selloff.

On Saturday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He had a phone conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, urging concerted efforts to maintain the stability of China-U.S. trade ties.

Liu expressed the hope that the two sides will stay rational and work together to maintain the overall stability of their economic and trade relations.

After the conversation, Mnuchin said on Sunday that he was "cautiously hopeful" an agreement can be reached with China, according to Fox News.

On the economic front, led by improvements in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose from 0.02 in January to 0.88 in February, beating market consensus. Enditem