Groundhog Day As Markets Rise On "Trade Talk Optimism"; Dollar Jumps Despite Trump Threat
It's groundhog day again as global markets and US equity futures are once again higher on the same regurgitated "news", this time courtesy of the WSJ, that the US and China are "In the final stages of completing a trade deal." If Phil Connors had the distinct displeasure of covering geopolitics and markets for the past 3 months, his report today would be that presidents Trump and Xi Jinping "might" seal a formal trade deal around March 27, as the two countries appear close to a deal that would roll back U.S. tariffs on at least $200 billion worth of Chinese goods (something which he has said repeatedly on many prior days). The proposed trade deal would require Beijing to follow through on pledges ranging from better protecting intellectual-property rights to buying a significant amount of American products, including 50 million liters of Jack Daniels whiskey.
And Phil would be suicidal to see the same old market reaction as global stocks rose on the news, with European markets following their Asian counterparts higher. Asia's MSCI ex Japan index was up 0.2%, Europe's STOXX 600 index was up 0.4%, while the E-Mini was 0.3% higher.
In Asia, Chinese shares were the biggest gainers, with the blue-chip index up as much as 3 percent, before however losing much of the overnight gains. The CSI300 index rallied last week after index provider MSCI quadrupled its weighting for mainland shares in its global benchmarks.
rest at link
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-04/groundhog-day-markets-rise-trade-talk-optimism-dollar-jumps-despite-trump-threat
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures
https://www.dailyfx.com/crude-oil
https://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html