The daily business briefing: July 1, 2019

1. Stock futures rise after Trump, Xi agree to hold off on more tariffs

U.S. stock futures made strong gains early Monday after the U.S. and China agreed to refrain from imposing any new tariffs on each other's products as they try to jumpstart talks on ending their trade war. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both up by about 1 percent, while those of the Nasdaq rose by 1.7 percent. The pledges came at a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. Trump said the two countries "are right back on track," adding that the U.S. would ease restrictions on U.S. firms selling products to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

CNBC

2. Toy Story 4 leads box office for 2nd week

Toy Story 4 continued to lead the domestic box office for the second week, adding $57.9 million to bring its global total to $496.5 million. The horror sequel Annabelle Comes Home came in second with $20.4 million over the weekend, bringing its total to $31.5 million over its first five days. Yesterday, a Danny Boyle-directed musical romantic comedy, came in third with $17 million, far exceeding expectations. Spider-Man: Far From Home scored the second-biggest Hollywood debut of the year in China, making $98 million there a week ahead of its North America opening. It was also the fourth best China debut for a superhero movie, behind Avengers: Endgame (2019), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Venom (2018).

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The Associated Press The Hollywood Reporter

3. Economic growth enters record 121st month

The U.S. economic expansion enters a record-setting 121st month on Monday. The growth has been fueled by a decade of low interest rates and other massive stimulus efforts by the Federal Reserve. The expansion could still have plenty of room to continue. U.S. gross domestic product only caught up last year with where Congressional Budget Office analysts estimate it could have been if the housing bubble had not burst in 2007 and the world hadn't entered a deep recession. "We're only now making up ground" after a decade of growth since June 2009, which the National Bureau of Economic Research has marked as the last recession's "trough," said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Mellon.

Reuters

4. Facebook releases civil rights report, touting progress

Facebook on Sunday issued a civil rights report describing progress in blocking misinformation, and vowing to fight any attempts to influence the 2020 election or census. "We have a team ... already working to ban ads that discourage people from voting, and we expect to finalize a new policy and its enforcement before the 2019 gubernatorial elections," Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said in a blog post. "This is a direct response to the types of ads we saw on Facebook in 2016." Sandberg said the actions build on Facebook's efforts over the last year "to prevent voter suppression and stay ahead of people trying to misuse our products." The company launched the independent audit following allegations that it censors conservatives and discriminates against minority groups.

Axios Facebook

5. Canadian cartoonist fired after drawing lampooning Trump

A Canadian publishing company, Brunswick News, reportedly terminated its contract with cartoonist Michael de Adder after he posted a drawing on Twitter showing President Trump, dressed for golf, standing over the bodies of two drowned migrants, saying, "Do you mind if I play through?" The drawing referred to a viral photo showing the bodies of a young Salvadoran man and his toddler daughter. The publisher said it was "entirely incorrect" to claim that it fired de Adder over the cartoon, which it was "not even offered." The company said it was making room to bring back another cartoonist who is a "reader favorite" in a deal that was long in the works. De Adder said the lost work was "a setback not a deathblow."

NBC News