U.S. markets continued to rally heading into New Year on Thursday morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was lifted by 170 points or 0.6% shortly before the opening bell on Thursday.

The S&P 500 Index edged higher by 20 points or 0.62%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 75.5 points or 0.86%.

Thursday’s early morning market gains come after a solid performance for the three main U.S. market indexes. In 2019, the S&P 500 gained 28.9%, making it the largest annual gain since 2013. The Dow notched higher by 22.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 35% in 2019.

Predominantly, many of the tech giants paved the way for the solid year in 2019. Notably, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) gained 86.16% in 2019, leading the pact. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) rose by 56.57% during the year, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) finished 28.18% higher, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) gained 23.03%, and lastly, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) edged higher by 20.89% at the end of 2019. 

While markets started off stronger to begin the New Year, earlier this week, U.S. markets tumbled because investors were concerned over potential trade talks between the U.S. and China. Additionally, markets also became weary after North Korea heightened its security measures.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump quickly suppressed trade concerns and said that the signing of the phase one deal with China will happen on January 15 at the White House. Trump also mentioned that he will be going to Beijing at a later date when phase two talks begin.

Chinese markets were also lifted on Thursday after the People’s Bank of China lowered the amount of reserve cash the country’s banks need to support the economy. The move will inject about RMB 800 Billion in liquidity to the Chinese economy, according to CNBC. 

The news sent the Shanghai Composite higher by 35.07 points or 1.15%, while the Shenzhen Component Index surged by 208.06 points or 1.99%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index soared by 353.77 points or 1.25%.