BCN-25,26 Stocks climb, oil falls as trade tensions ease

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Stocks climb, oil falls as trade tensions ease

NEW YORK, Aug 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Stocks rose Tuesday as investors
welcomed apparent moves by the United States and China to restart trade talks
while oil prices slid following an offer by US President Donald Trump to meet
with his Iranian counterpart.

Investors were cheered by a Bloomberg News report that senior US and
Chinese officials are seeking to restart negotiations to end an escalating
trade war.

That came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week said “some
quiet conversations” were underway, and the US was ready to reopen talks “any
time China is willing to seriously negotiate.”

Solid earnings and economic data also supported the gains, analysts said.

US tariffs on another $16 billion (13.7 billion euros) of Chinese imports
could go into effect in coming weeks, following levies on $34 billion imposed
earlier this month, which prompted a tit-for-tat response from Beijing
against US agricultural goods and other.

That would be followed by US tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese
goods.

“Equity markets are in positive territory as trade tensions between the US
and China are improving,” said analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK.

“Traders took this as a positive sign and were encouraged to snap up
stocks on the back of it.”

The broad-based S&P 500 finished 0.5 percent higher, with industrial
companies such as Caterpillar and Honeywell International posting strong
gains.

In Europe, London stocks closed 0.6 percent higher, boosted by strong
second-quarter BP results.

Paris added 0.4 percent and Frankfurt edged 0.1 percent higher.

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– $1 trillion Apple? –

Meanwhile, oil prices dropped after Trump seemed to jettison bellicose
threats against Iran on Monday, saying in a dramatic about-face that he was
willing to meet the country’s leaders without preconditions.

A volley of saber-rattling tweets had raised tensions in oil markets,
which are already concerned about supplies as US sanctions coming back into
force in November aim to choke off Iranian oil exports.

Supply fears were also eased by an OPEC survey showing that output had
increased.

“Recently, traders have been fearful about future supply given the
impending sanctions on Iran, but they are happy to dump oil in light of the
OPEC news,” said Madden at CMC Markets UK.

The main international benchmark, Brent crude, fell 72 cents while the
main US benchmark, WTI, dropped $1.37.

Earlier, Asian equities traded mixed as the Bank of Japan tweaked its
monetary policy in a bid to make its massive easing program sustainable.

Tokyo’s key Nikkei index closed marginally higher after the Bank of Japan
revised its inflation forecasts down, while making minor changes to its
ultra-loose monetary policy for the first time in nearly two years.

Technology shares, the biggest losers during a sharp three-day pullback in
the US, rallied higher.

Facebook climbed 0.9 percent, Microsoft and Netflix both 0.7 percent.

Apple, which was set to report earnings later Tuesday, advanced 0.2
percent.

– Key figures at 2030 GMT –

New York – Dow Jones: UP 0.4 percent to 25,415.19 (close)

New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 2,816.29 (close)

New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.6 percent at 7,675.19 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,748.76 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 0.1 percent at 12,805.50 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 5,511.30 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.5 percent at 3,529.40 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5 percent at 28,583.01 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 2,876.40 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP less than 0.1 percent at 22,553.72 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1697 from $1.1706 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3127 from $1.3133

Dollar/yen: UP at 111.81 yen from 111.04 yen

Oil – Brent Crude: DOWN 72 cents at $74.25 per barrel

Oil – West Texas Intermediate: DOWN $1.37 at $68.76 per barrel

BSS/AFP/HR/1000