NEW YORK, Jan 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Stock markets across the globe powered
higher Friday, buoyed by hopes of a breakthrough in efforts to defuse a US-
China trade war.
European and Asian indices bounced back strongly on Thursday after The
Wall Street Journal reported Washington was considering lifting tariffs on
China as officials look to hammer out a trade deal.
Wall Street joined the party later Friday, with major indices rising one
percent or more to close out the fourth day in a row of gains. The Dow has
risen more than 13 percent since December 24.
Bloomberg also reported Friday that Beijing had offered to eliminate its
soaring trade surplus with the United States in five years.
“Global markets are enjoying an overwhelmingly bullish end to the week,
with hopes of a potential breakthrough in US-China trade talks helping drive
optimism,” said Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at traders IG.
There’s “definitely rising optimism” of a trade deal, said LBBW’s Karl
Haeling.
“There are kind of smoke signals and when there is smoke there is fire,”
Haeling said. “It seems that Trump sees the weakening of the economy and the
shutdown situation. He seems to be doing something to get a win here.”
However, there was also skepticism among some analysts, with the two sides
still far apart on a number of issues, particularly regarding intellectual
property.
On currency markets the pound edged lower, giving up earlier gains seen as
dealers bet that Britain would not leave the European Union without a deal.
After her grand Brexit plan was soundly rebuffed by MPs this week, British
Prime Minister Theresa May has called cross-party talks to put together a
“Plan B” by Monday.
If that does not work, there is a growing expectation that the March 29
exit deadline will be pushed back to give May more time to reach another deal
or possibly call another referendum.
– Oil prices rise –
Oil prices meanwhile rose on the China-US tariffs report and after OPEC
said it had cut output in December before a new agreement to limit supply
took effect.
Both main contracts are up around a fifth since the end of December,
thanks to an agreement to cut output by OPEC and other key producers
including Russia.
That followed almost three months of losses that wiped around 40 percent
off prices amid concerns supply was running ahead of demand.
Shares of US companies with significant China operations gained, including
Dow member Boeing, Caterpillar and Nike.
But Tesla Motors dived 13 percent after the electric car maker announced
plans to cut seven percent of its workforce and forecast lean profits.
Netflix fell 4.0 percent as its profits topped analyst expectations but
analysts worried that subscriber growth was slowing.
– Key figures around 2130 GMT –
New York – DOW: UP 1.4 percent at 24,706.35 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 1.3 percent at 2,670.71 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 7,157.23 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 2.0 percent at 6,968.33 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 2.6 percent at 11,205.54 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.7 percent at 4,875.93 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 2.1 percent at 3,134.92 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 20,666.07 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 1.3 percent at 27,090.81 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 2,596.01 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1365 from $1.1389 at 2200 GMT
Euro/pound: UP at 88.31 pence from 87.70 pence
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2867 from $1.2986
Dollar/yen: UP at 109.72 yen from 109.26
Oil – Brent Crude: UP $1.52 at $62.70 per barrel
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: UP $1.73 at $53.80 per barrel