AP/Richard Drew
- Global stocks surged on Thursday after China signaled trade talks with the US could be back on.
- The US and China are discussing in-person trade talks, China's Commerce Ministry said.
- China wants to settle the dispute calmly and avoid further escalation of the trade war, the ministry said.
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Global stocks surged on Thursday after China signaled trade talks with the US could be back on, fueling hopes for a deal that ends the year-long trade war between the world's two largest economies.
The US and China are discussing in-person trade talks that were scheduled for September, China's Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, according to Reuters. China would prefer to settle the issue calmly and avoid further escalation of the trade war, Gao Feng, the ministry's spokesman, told reporters.
Market sentiment has flip flopped in line with comments and tweets from President Donald Trump about the progress of trade negotiations. He last week said Chinese officials had asked members of his administration to restart trade talks earlier this week. However, China's Foreign Ministry said it was "not aware" of any such conversations.
"As long as the US-China trade dispute remains unresolved, it's hard to see a sustainable rally in equities," Hussein Sayed, chief market analyst at FXTM, said in a morning note. "And with new trade tariffs coming up next week, expect further negative impact on economic data."
The Trump administration has downplayed the prospect of a swift resolution. It's "unlikely anything quick will happen," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Wednesday.
Here's the market roundup as of 9:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. EST):
- European equities have jumped, with Germany's DAX up 0.8%, the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.9%, and Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.9%.
- US stocks are set to open higher. Futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and Nasdaq were up between 0.6% and 0.9%.
- Asian indexes were mixed, with China's Shanghai Composite down 0.1%, Japan's Nikkei down 0.1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.4%.
- Oil prices were mixed, with West Texas Intermediate crude up 0.4% at about $56 a barrel, and Brent crude down 0.1% at $59.90.
- Gold was flat at $1,550.
