Dow crosses 28,000 for first time on China trade deal hopes

The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 28,000 mark for the first time on Friday, boosted by reports that the US and China are nearing a trade deal.

The blue-chip index closed at an all-time high of 28,004.89 after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the US and China were “getting close” on a trade pact.

“It’s not done yet, but there has been very good progress and the talks have been very constructive,” Kudlow said Thursday, according to Reuters.

The Nasdaq rose 0.7 percent to close at a record 8,540.83. The S&P 500 also closed at a record high of 3,120.46. up 0.8 percent.

Kudlow’s latest comments offered some clarity about just how close the Trump administration is to a deal with Beijing, said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

Kudlow reportedly said US and Chinese officials are communicating daily as the talks come down to the “short strokes,” with the caveat that Trump “hasn’t signed off on a commitment for phase one.”

“For the market you want more definition of what ‘close’ means, and Larry Kudlow seemed to help with that definition,” Krosby told The Post.

With more tariffs looming next month, the markets are following every word of the China talks now that other economic concerns have been quelled, according to analysts.

Markets are especially sensitive to developments on the Chinese trade front with the corporate earnings season all but over, said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist for Newbridge Securities.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress this week also seemed to assuage concerns about a possible recession, Selkin said. Powell told lawmakers Wednesday that he sees a “sustained expansion of economic activity” ahead.

“The only thing that the market really is concentrating now on is the news or lack of news from China,” Selkin told The Post.

Trump himself said a trade deal was “close” in a Tuesday speech to the Economic Club of New York. But the last pieces of the deal could be the hardest to hammer out, Krosby said.

“What seems like ‘Sign here, sign there’ are sometimes the most difficult,” Krosby said.