Holiday season deals propped up U.S. auto sales in November, limiting the scale of annual falls at some carmakers and putting overall figures on course to top analysts’ expectations, numbers from several top producers showed on Monday.

No.1 carmaker General Motors posted a roughly 1 percent rise in sales, according to a source familiar with the numbers, compared with a fall of more than 2 percent expected by analysts.

Its next biggest rival, Ford Motor Co, reported a 7 percent fall in sales but said overall industry sales should have reached at least 17.5 million annualized – above economists’ expectations of 17.2 million.

Bolstered by Washington and Beijing signaling a three-month truce in their trade war over the weekend, shares in both companies rose by more than 4.5 percent in morning trade in New York.

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