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
Stocks climbed in early Thursday trading after President Donald
Trump said he would meet China's chief trade negotiator at the
White House on Friday. This comes amid the start of two days
discussions in Washington between the world's biggest
economies.
How are the benchmarks performing?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9 points, or less than
0.1% , to 26,355. The S&P 500 was up 2 points, or less than
0.1%, to 2,921. The Nasdaq Composite picked up 14 points, or 0.2%,
to 7,918.
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?
President Donald Trump tweeted that
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-says-hell-meet-with-chinese-vice-premier-on-friday-2019-10-10)he
would meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to advance a trade deal,
bolstering hopes that the U.S. was looking to strike a resolution
soon.
Liu He is meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin 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.
In economic data, U.S. consumer price inflation was little
changed in September,
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumer-inflation-flat-in-september-cpi-shows-giving-fed-room-to-cut-rates-2019-10-10)
giving the Federal Reserve room to cut interest rates in late
October. Weekly jobless claims
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-fall-10000-to-210000-in-early-october-show-no-sign-of-rising-layoffs-2019-10-10)fell
in early October.
Investors also saw some commentary from Dallas Fed President
Robert Kaplan who said he's
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-kaplan-says-hes-open-minded-about-further-rate-cuts-2019-10-10)
open-minded on the outlook for further rate cuts. The central bank
has already cut its benchmark interest rate by a half percentage
point this year.
Which stocks are moving?
PG&E's stock(PCG) plunged after a judge ruled to allow for a
competitive bankruptcy plan
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pges-stock-dives-in-active-trading-after-bankruptcy-ruling-2019-10-10),
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) surged after Belgian
biopharma company UCB agreed to acquire the Mass-based biopharma
company
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/belgiums-ucb-to-acquire-ra-pharma-in-cash-deal-valued-at-about-25-billion-2019-10-10)for
$2.5 billion.
Kroger Co.'s stock(KR) tumbled after a Jefferies analyst called
the grocer's tech investment into Ocado a "misstep," downgrading
the company to hold from buy
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kroger-downgraded-with-analysts-calling-the-grocers-costly-tech-investment-a-misstep-2019-10-10).
How are other assets trading?
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 4.7 basis
points to 1.632%, 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 fell after posting small gains on Wednesday. Gold for
December delivery was down 0.9% at $1,499.00 an ounce after rising
0.6% on Wednesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery rose 68
cents, or 1.3%, at $53.27 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 0.1% lower to
380.00.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 10, 2019 10:17 ET (14:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.