Global stocks bounce after Trump's softening stance on trade war 'music to the ears of the market'
- Global markets have been boosted by renewed optimism that a deal to avert trade war escalation can be reached with Asian stocks hitting a four month peak.
- Asian markets, particularly in China, followed Wall Street higher with US futures also pointing up on Wednesday.
- Europe has also been buoyed by hopes that the March 1 trade war deadline between the US and China will be avoided.
The worldwide market rally continued on Wednesday with trade war optimism saturating equities.
Asian and European markets rallied with US futures after US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he could see letting the March 1 deadline for reaching a trade agreement with China "slide for a little while," if both sides were near a deal.
"Trump saying that there could be some leeway with the March 1st trade truce deadline if the two sides were close to a deal was music to the ears of the market," Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, said in an email.
The comments helped shore up Asia's rally, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 0.6% to its highest level since early October, a four month high, while the Nikkei closed at an eight-week high, up 1.3%.
Trade talks will continue in Beijing this week with hopes also boosted by the announcement that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will join US negotiators this week. Trump had previously threatened to more than double the rate of duties on $200 billion in Chinese imports.
Here's the roundup:
- The Shanghai Composite closed 1.8% up with Australian and South Korean markets also boosted.
- In Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.5% as of 8.35 a.m in London (3.35 a.m in New York).
- The DAX is leading the charge up 0.7% alongside Italy's FTSE MIB while French and British markets up 0.5%.
- US Futures are all trading up at least 0.3% with the Nasdaq leading the way with a 0.5% gain.