Xi Speech, Zuckerberg Comments Lift Wall Street

Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher on Tuesday amid hopes that US-China trade tensions were easing after President Xi Jinping said China would open up sectors of its economy to greater foreign competition, while Facebook surged as the company's chief apologized to Congress over a data breach scandal.

Automakers and technology companies climbed Tuesday after President Xi Jinping said he would cut China's auto tariffs and improve intellectual property protection.

General Motors rose 3.3 percent and chipmaker Nvidia jumped 5.8 percent.

Investors seemed pleased with how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Congressional testimony on data privacy started out.

Facebook rose 4.5 percent, and rival social media company Twitter increased 5.4 percent.

The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 2.1 percent at 7,094.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.8 percent to end at 24,408, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.7 percent to 2,656. (AFP, AP)