Stocks climb as ECB stimulus and trade progress temper global growth fears

The European Central Bank slashed its benchmark deposit rate deeper into negative territory and expanded its bond-buying program.
China said it planned to exempt a short-list of items from US products from upcoming tariffs, while President Trump announced the US would delay increasing duties to October 15.
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Stocks rose on Thursday after the European Central Bank moved to inject new stimulus into the European economy and the US and China soothed trade tensions with tariff delays and exemptions.

The ECB lowered its key deposit rate to -0.5%, from -0.4%, driving interest rates deeper into negative territory. The central bank also it will continue to repurchase bonds for as long as necessary. The announcement providing reassurance that global central banks would step in to support economies in the event of a global slowdown.

China said it planned to temporarily exempt a short-list of US products from upcoming tariffs. President Trump said shortly after China's announcement that the US would delay increasing existing duties on Chinese exports until October 15.

Investors had been looking for signs of progress toward a trade deal for several weeks. The efforts by China and the US to delay tariffs appeared to traders hope a resolution could be reached in the near future.

Here's a look at the major indexes as of the 4 p.m. close on Thursday:

The S&P 500 rose 0.29%, to 3,009.57.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.17%, to 27,182.45.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.30%, to 8,194.47.

Shares of Aurora Cannabis tumbled as much as 11% on Thursday after missing Wall Street expectations for earnings. The cannabis producer also said it no longer expects to achieve profitability this year, and now forecasting positive earnings in 2020.

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Oracle's stock price sank as much as 6% after the company said chief executive officer Mike Hurd would be taking an indefinite leave of absence. Hurd pushed the company deeper in the cloud commuting market in attempt to compete with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft .

Within the S&P 500, these were the largest gainers: