Mixed news trickled in from the world share market on Tuesday as investors kept a wary eye on China-US trade talks that could have a huge impact on the global economy.
A second day of talks was planned after US and Chinese officials met in London on Monday for negotiations over various issues. The hope is that they can eventually reach a deal to reduce painfully high tariffs against each other. Most of the tariff hikes imposed since US President Donald Trump escalated his trade war are coming to office for the second term this January are paused to allow trade in everything from tiny tech gadgets to enormous machinery to continue.
Germany’s DAX lost 0.7 per cent to 24,006.38, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2 per cent to 7,779.45. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3 per cent to 8,858.01.
The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.1 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3 per cent to 38,211.51, yielding most of its earlier gains, while the Kospi in South Korea rose 0.6 per cent to 2,871.85.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed an early advance, slipping 0.1 per cent to 24,162.87. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.4 per cent to 3,384.82.
“Chinese stocks did what they often do when geopolitics starts tightening the noose – they flinched. What began as a calm morning session flipped into a jittery sell-off as traders returned from lunch with a different mood,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
There was no fresh news on the talks, but investors appeared to grow more nervous as the day wore on.
In Taiwan, the Taiex surged 2.1 per cent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8 per cent to 8,587.20. India’s Sensex was nearly unchanged.
On Monday, the S&P 500 edged up just 0.1 per cent and was within 2.3 per cent of its record set in February. The Dow gave up just 1 point, which is well below 0.1 per cent.
The Nasdaq composite added 0.3 per cent.
Hopes that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with countries around the world have helped the S&P 500 rally back after it dropped roughly 20 per cent from its record two months ago. It’s back above where it was when Trump shocked financial markets in April with his wide-ranging tariff announcement on what he called “Liberation Day.”
Some of the market’s biggest moves came from the announcement of big buyout deals. Qualcomm rallied 4.1 per cent after saying it agreed to buy Alphawave Semi in a deal valued at USD 2.4 billion. IonQ, meanwhile, rose 2.7 per cent after the quantum computing and networking company said it agreed to purchase Oxford Ionics for nearly USD 1.08 billion.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Warner Bros. Discovery, which flipped from a big early gain to a loss of three per cent after saying it would split into two companies.
Tesla recovered some of its sharp, recent drop. The electric vehicle company tumbled last week as Elon Musk’s relationship with Trump fractured, and it rose 4.6 per cent Monday after flipping between gains and losses earlier in the day.
The frayed relationship could end up damaging Musk’s other companies that get contracts from the US government, such as SpaceX. Rocket Lab, a space company that could pick up business at SpaceX’s expense, rose 2.5 per cent.
A survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that consumers’ expectations for coming inflation eased a bit in May.
Economists expect a report coming on Wednesday to show inflation across the country accelerated last month to 2.5 per cent from 2.3 per cent.
The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate steady as it waits to see how much Trump’s tariffs will raise inflation and how much they will hurt the economy. A persistent increase in expectations for inflation among US households could drive behaviour that creates a vicious cycle that only worsens inflation.
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