US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping/AFP
NEW YORK, United States, Jul 2 – Stock markets rose Monday after US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed on the sidelines of the weekend Group of 20 summit to resume trade negotiations toward a long-term deal.
Solid gains in Asian and European stock markets were followed by a winning session on Wall Street, including a fresh record for the S&P 500.
Oil prices also rose as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its oil producing allies agreed to extend their oil output caps.
Yet trade was at the center of the session following the long-anticipated G20 meeting.
Major US indices had opened the session more than one percent higher but pulled back as the session progressed.
Key questions remained unresolved, such as when existing tariffs could be lifted or how the two countries could resolve differences on technology-related trade and intellectual property.
“Investors heaved a massive, but exhausted, sigh of relief that both the US and China opted to push the reset button and restart trade negotiations amidst other pleasantries – now we’ll have to see whether it all sticks,” said Stephen Innes at Vanguard Markets.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent to 2,964.33. That is about 10 points above the prior record but about 13 points below its peak earlier in the session.
“Obviously, it’s great to hear that the imminent scare is gone but the uncertainty is still very much there,” said Nate Thooft, senior portfolio manager of Manulife Asset Management.
“We have no defined date for the next discussions, no agreement on the major sticking points. The skepticism continues to be there.”
‘Exhausted sigh of relief’
Elsewhere on Monday, WTI crude jumped back above $60 per barrel for the first time in a month after OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and non-cartel producer Russia said they would extend caps on oil output.
Oil prices later gave up some of their gains, however, as analysts suspected OPEC and its allies would be unable to assuage all the markets’ worries.
“As such, the new deal will probably fail to address the rising non-OPEC supplies at a time the world economy is slowing, which could mean lower demand growth,” Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada told AFP.
“Thus, the oil market is likely to be oversupplied again in due course, which means prices may struggle to push significantly higher from here,” he added.
Key figures around 2050 GMT
New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 26,717.43 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 2,964.33 (close)
New Yok – Nasdaq: UP 1.1 percent at 8,091.16 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 1.0 percent at 7,497.50 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 5,567.91 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 1.0 percent at 12,521.38 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.7 percent at 3,497.59 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.1 percent at 21,729.97 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 2.2 percent at 3,044.90 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: Closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1283 from $1.1373
Dollar/yen: UP at 108.44 yen from 107.85
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2637 from $1.2696
Brent North Sea crude: UP 32 cents at $65.06 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 62 cents at $59.09 per barrel
