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Trump's trade battle has entered a 'phoney war phase' - here's how to cut through the noise and make some money
Wednesday's summit between President Donald Trump and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker gave investors, analysts, and politicians hope that the trade war may not escalate further , and could even start to moderate going forward.
That, however, is by no means a certainty, and things could well escalate once again given the noted volatility of Trump's personality.
Uncertainty may remain, but according to a group of strategists at UBS, there's money to be made until everything gets figured out. The team - comprising of Niall MacLeod, Matthew Gilman, and Jiamin Shen - argues that we're in what can be called a "phoney war phase" - where everyone is sizing each other up, but no real action has been taken yet.
US economy grows 4.1%, the fastest pace since 2014
The US economy grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace since 2014, according to a preliminary report released by the Commerce Department on Friday.
Gross domestic product (GDP), the total value of all goods and services produced domestically, rose at an annualized pace of 4.1%. Economists had forecast 4.2% growth.
A rebound in consumer spending from the first quarter served the biggest contribution to growth. Personal consumption increased by 4% in the first full quarter after President Donald Trump signed tax cuts into law. Business investment and government spending also increased.
Exports surged as expected. The Commerce Department had said earlier this month that soybean exports surged , as buyers stockpiled ahead of China's forthcoming 25% tariff on the US.
Bitcoin slides below $8,000 after the SEC rejects the Winklevoss twins' bitcoin fund
Bitcoin continued to slide Friday morning after the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second time rejected a proposal by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to list an exchange-traded fund tied to the cryptocurrency.
At 8:56 a.m. ET, the red-hot coin was trading down 1.35% at $7,840. It has shed hundred of dollars since news broke Thursday night that the SEC had once again said it didn't think the fund was ready for its debut. The agency originally rejected the fund in March 2017.
This time regulators said the underlying bitcoin market, on which the fund would be based, is too susceptible to manipulation, noting : "BZX has not demonstrated that the structure of the spot market for bitcoin is uniquely resistant to manipulation."
In markets news
- One surprising group of investors got a huge boost from Facebook's stock meltdown - and Bank of America explains how traders can follow suit
- A $3 trillion market that's boldly ignoring the trade war is headed for a rude awakening - here's how UBS says to prepare