By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch , Sunny Oh
Amid conflicting reports, it's unclear if a substantive
agreement can be reached by the U.S. and China
Stock-benchmark futures slipped early Thursday as investors
watched fast-moving developments on trade talks, amid the start of
high-level discussions in Washington between the world's biggest
economies.
How are the benchmarks performing?
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 57
points, or 0.2%, to 26,248, those for the S&P 500 index were
off 5.15 points to reach 2,913.5, a decline of around 0.2%, while
Nasdaq-100 futures slipped 12.75 points, or less than 0.2%, to
7,686.
On Wednesday, the Dow rose 181.97 points, or 0.7%, to end at
26,346.01. The S&P 500 index gained 26.34 points to finish at
2,919.40, up 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 79.96
points, or 1%, to close at 7,903.74.
What drove the stock market?
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to meet with U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin later Thursday in Washington, with the hope that the
parties can resolve, at least partially, tensions over trade that
have stoked anxieties on Wall Street, though it is unclear if a
substantive agreement can be achieved.
Markets were whipsawed overnight Thursday by reports from the
South China Morning Post suggesting that the China delegation would
leave Washington on Thursday, a day earlier than had been planned.
However, a White House spokesperson later told CNBC that there were
no changes to plans
(https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/us-futures-drop-after-chinese-media-reports-that-us-and-china-have-made-no-progress-in-trade-talks.html)
of the Beijing representatives.
Bloomberg News
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-10/u-s-weighing-currency-pact-with-china-as-part-of-partial-deal)
reported that the White House may implement a previously agreed
upon currency deal with China ahead of schedule, and suspend tariff
hikes to 30% from 25% scheduled to take effect Oct. 15 on some $250
billion in China products. Those moves would be part of a
first-phase agreement with China, the report said, with
negotiations on critical issues such as intellectual-property
rights and forced technology transfers coming at a later time.
Separately, the New York Times reported
(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/us/politics/trump-huawei-trade.html)
Wednesday night that President Donald Trump had approved issuing
licenses to some U.S. companies to conduct business with Chinese
telecom giant Huawei Technologies. The U.S. blacklisted Huawei
earlier this year, and allowing sales of non-sensitive products
could help defuse trade tensions.
"The last round of trade talks ended in July without an
agreement. Expectations for a breakthrough this time are low, but
there is good reason to expect that talks will continue," wrote
strategists at UniCredit in a Thursday research note.
"There appears to be some willingness on both sides to reach a
deal," the strategists said.
Looking ahead, investors also will watch for a report on U.S.
consumer price inflation, set to be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern
Time, along with a report on weekly jobless claims due at the same
time.
Which stocks are moving?
Shares of Nike(NKE) fell by less than 0.2% before the opening
bell after Oppenheimer raised its price target for the sportswear
brand to $115 from $100.
PG&E's stock(PCG) plunged 30% in premarket trading after a
judge ruled to allow for a competitive bankruptcy plan, opening up
the path for Elliott Management Group and other bondholders to push
for their own chapter 11 plan. Their proposal would involve raising
new money and using most of PG&E's equity to pay off the
utility firm's debts.
Shares for Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RARX) looked to surge 105%
after Belgian biopharma company UCB agreed to acquire the
Mass-based biopharma company for $2.5 billion.
How are other assets trading?
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was little changed
at 1.587%, from
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-push-higher-after-china-moots-partial-trade-deal-2019-10-09)1.585%
late Wednesday.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-edges-higher-ahead-of-trade-talks-2019-10-09)Gold
futures edged slightly higher after small gains on Wednesday. Gold
for December delivery was up less than 0.1% at $1,513.00 an ounce
after rising 0.6% on Wednesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery rose 11
cents, or 0.2%, at $52.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
In Asia overnight Thursday, trade was mixed, with Hong Kong's
Hang Seng Index added 0.1% to 25,707.93, the China CSI 300 rose
0.8% to reach 3,874.64, and Japan's Nikkei 225gained 0.5% to
21,551.98. The Stoxx Europe 600, meanwhile, edged 0.2% lower to
379.48.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 10, 2019 08:07 ET (12:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.