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Global stocks, dollar rise on hopes of easing US-China trade tensions

Global stocks, dollar rise on hopes of easing US-China trade tensions
August 27, 2019
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A global gauge of equities edged higher on Monday and the dollar rebounded after US President Donald Trump said Chinese officials had contacted Washington about resuming trade negotiations, restoring some equilibrium following signs of escalation in the US-China trade dispute that had roiled markets earlier in the day. Trump’s comments after the G7 summit of world leaders in France followed Chinese Vice Premier Liu He’s remarks that China was willing to resolve the trade dispute through “calm” negotiations. Beijing, however, declined to confirm that Chinese officials had contacted their US trade counterparts. US stocks rose upon the easing of rhetoric between Washington and Beijing, while European stocks bounced off their lows. “The sentiment today is conciliatory. The president is trying to walk back,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York. “Whether or not he has a phone call with China doesn’t matter,” Hogan added. “The point is that he is attempting to keep the September meeting scheduled and get back to the negotiating bit.” The dollar index .DXY also reversed course to trade higher, last rising 0.4%. The Chinese yuan, which had fallen to an 11-year low in the onshore market and hit a record low in the offshore market, pared losses. In the offshore market, the Chinese yuan CNH= was last down 0.5% at 7.1684 per dollar. Asian equity markets had plummeted and European stocks had appeared set to follow suit after China and the United States announced further tariffs on each other’s exports on Friday. Trump announced an additional duty on some $550 billion of targeted Chinese goods, following the US market close, hours after China unveiled retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of US goods. Another development at the G7 summit pressured oil prices, as French President Emmanuel Macron said preparations were under way for a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Trump in the coming weeks to find a solution to their nuclear standoff. The prospect of a deal between Washington and Tehran bolstered the outlook for increased supply of Iranian crude. US crude CLcv1 settled 53 cents lower, or 0.98%, at $53.64 a barrel, while Brent LCOcv1 settled 64 cents lower, or 1.08%, at $58.70 a barrel. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 211.74 points, or 0.83%, to 25,840.64, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 24.13 points, or 0.85%, to 2,871.24 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 82.22 points, or 1.06%, to 7,833.98. The MSCI All-Country World Index .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.14%. Despite the rise in equities, some market participants remained cautious on the extent of progress in US-China trade relations. “This rally today is very tentative,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at SunTrust Advisory Services in Atlanta. “People don’t really know what the true story is.” Even so, US 10-year Treasury yields edged higher after having fallen to a three-year low earlier, while spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,527.20 an ounce, easing from a six-year peak. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR last fell 6/32 in price to yield 1.5452%, from 1.527% late on Friday. The yield curve between two-year and 10-year Treasuries inverted as an upcoming auction of two-year notes on Tuesday gave a further boost to shorter-dated yields. The safe-haven Japanese yen JPY= fell 0.7% to 106.14 against the dollar after having rallied to a seven-month high of 104.46 yen per dollar.