U.S. holiday e-commerce sales grew nearly 19% from the 2018 period, according to new Mastercard data. Online sales represented 14.6% of the total retail sales between November 1 and Christmas Eve, boosting retail giants like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT).

U.S., China closer to trade deal

China’s commerce ministry spokesman said the parties are close to signing the Phase 1 trade deal agreement. The parties are working through the necessary procedures while remaining in communication. Earlier this week, President Trump said there would be a signing ceremony with President Xi Jinping.

Oil, gold gain on trade optimism

Oil and gold prices gained in early hours after the positive comments on the U.S.-China trade deal. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate both gained 0.4%, with the commodity also benefiting from an OPEC-led supply constriction. Gold crossed the $1,500 per ounce level, marking the strongest performance in nearly two months.

AWS head sees continued Alibaba strength

Amazon Web Services (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy told Nikkei he expects Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) to continue to grow into a dominant cloud player, but sees Alibaba somewhat limited to China. Jassy said enterprise and public sector cloud adoption is in the early stages, with the U.S. as much as 36 months ahead of other countries in adoption.
 

Allergan signs $750M Namenda settlement

Purchasers of Allergan’s (NYSE:AGN) Namenda asked a federal judge to approve a $750M settlement regarding claims the company conspired to keep generics for the Alzheimer’s drug off the market. Allergan signed the settlement on December 20 but denied any wrongdoing.
 

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +0.60%. Hong Kong closed. China +0.85%. India -0.72%.
In Europe, at midday, London closed. Paris closed. Frankfurt closed.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.13%. S&P +0.16%. Nasdaq +0.13%. Crude +0.33% to $61.31. Gold +0.26% to $1,508.80. Bitcoin -0.24% to $7,241.1.
Ten-year Treasury Yield flat at 1.91%

Today's Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
1:00 PM Results of $32B, 7-Year Note Auction
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet