Stocks began the session deep in negative territory following China’s threat of retaliation against proposed U.S. tariffs. The escalation of the countries’ war of words unnerved investors, prompting an early selloff. As investors digested the news, the market pared its losses and eventually turned positive, gaining momentum as the day progressed. The market, which saw its lows near the open, went out near its highs, with the Dow finishing with an advance of about 1% and the Nasdaq gaining about 1.5%. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., payroll company ADP estimated that private sector employment increased by 241,000 jobs from February to March. Markit’s final services PMI dropped 1.9 points to 54.0 in March from a reading of 55.9 in February. The ISM non-manufacturing index fell 0.7 points to 58.8 in March after slipping 0.4 points to 59.5 in February. Factory orders increased 1.2% in February, largely erasing the 1.3% January drop. In Asia, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that it will levy 25% reciprocal tariffs on 106 U.S. products including planes, soybean, automobile, chemicals, wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, tobacco and beef. The agency said the move is in response to the United States’ proposal to impose a 25% tariff on imported high-tech products. China said the reciprocal tariffs will apply to around $50B of U.S. imports. COMPANY NEWS: Boeing (BA) fell below $312 per share at its worst levels of the session in apparent reaction to news that China plans to impose tariffs on American products, including airplanes, in retaliation against President Donald Trump’s proposed penalties on Chinese goods. Commenting on the matter, Boeing said that China’s tariffs are “still in the proposal stage” and that the company is “assessing the situation,” according to Reuters. The stock closed well off its lows, finishing the day about 1% lower at $327.41… Facebook (FB) shares were in focus as its data scandal saga continued. After it was confirmed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, CNBC reported that Facebook is updating its terms of service and data policy to clarify the user information it collects and shares across its products including Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus and Messenger. In addition, the social media giant raised its estimate of the number of users that may have been impacted by data mishandling. The company said in a blog post that it believes the Facebook information of up to 87M people, mostly in the U.S., may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica… CBS (CBS) delivered orally on Friday a takeover proposal for Viacom (VIAB) that offered 0.55 shares of CBS for each Viacom share, CNBC’s David Faber reports, citing sources. The offer was immediately rejected and Viacom is expected to put forth a counter, according to Faber, who added that Viacom believes the “market price ratio” is 0.62 per CBS share and wants above that ratio. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Acxiom (ACXM), which rose nearly 8% after CEO Scott Howe said that the company has seen some signs that Facebook is reconsidering its data import policy. Also higher was homebuilder Lennar (LEN), which gained 10% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Cloudera (CLDR), which plunged 40% after reporting quarterly results and providing worse than expected guidance for Q1 and fiscal 2019. Also lower was Acuity Brands (AYI), which fell about 4% after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: The Dow rose 230.94, or 0.96%, to 24,264.30, the Nasdaq gained 100.83, or 1.45%, to 7,042.11, and the S&P 500 advanced 30.24, or 1.16%, to 2,644.69.