News that talks to avert a potential trade war with China were progressing lifted the markets to a sharply higher open with the Dow leaping 292 points to 23,825. Nasdaq surged 133 points to 7125.

On the upside

USG (NYSE: USG) rejected an unsolicited acquisition offer from Gebr Knauf saying that the offer undervalued the company.

Travelport Worldwide (NYSE: TVPT) chief executive Gordon Wilson and chief financial officer Bernard Bot each purchased 6,900 shares of company stock.

Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) chief executive Robert A. Niblock will retire after 25 years with the company.

On the downside

Biohaven Pharmaceutical (NYSE: BHVN) reported positive results from two Phase 3 clinical trials for its migraine drug rimegepant but concerns of competition from Allergen (NYSE: AGN) sent the stock price lower.

Investors locked in profits on DURECT (Nasdaq: DRRX).

The Federal Trade Commission confirmed that it was investigating the privacy practices of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 surged 31 points to 2,619. Bitcoin crashed $517 to $8,110.