The Dow struggled for conviction during the week’s penultimate trading session, as Wall Street remained on edge ahead of President Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Dow Struggles to Extend Its Bullish Momentum
None of Wall Street’s major indices had the fortitude to assemble a strong move during early trading on Thursday. As of 9:31 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 18.86 points or 0.07% to rise to 26,555.68.
The S&P 500 rose 8.9 points or 0.31% to 2,922.68. Nine of 11 primary sectors reported gains, with Real Estate and Communication Services both popping more than 0.65%.
The Nasdaq outperformed with a 33.05 point or 0.42% climb to 7,943.02.
WSJ: Xi Will Present Trump With List of Demands
All eyes are fixed on President Trump as he attends the weekend G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
More important than the G-20 meeting itself is Trump’s face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This will be their first meeting since last month’s sudden meltdown in trade negotiations, and analysts view it as a critical step toward ending a trade war that has roiled the global stock market.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Xi will present Trump with a list of negotiating conditions the US must meet before the two economic leviathans sign a trade deal. The terms are steep, including reversing its Huawei blacklist, removing punitive tariffs, and halting its efforts to pressure China to buy more US goods.
The South China Morning Post reports that Trump has already agreed to delay $300 billion worth of new tariffs on Chinese imports. That, the SCMP said, was “Xi Jinping’s price for holding this week’s meeting with him.”
The Dow had climbed on Wednesday on rumors that Trump would suspend those tariffs, though the stock market later slipped into decline and the DJIA closed with a slight loss of 11.4 points.
US & Chinese Officials Strike Conflicting Tones Ahead of Trump-Xi Parley
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has been playing up the odds of a full trade deal, even going so far as to forecast that Trump and Xi could put pen to paper by the end of the year.
However, a Bloomberg survey of economists found that most experts expect the US and China to either sign a partial trade deal or agree to maintain the status quo.
Chinese officials continue to maintain a hardline stance in advance of the Trump-Xi meeting.
“We urge the U.S. to immediately cancel its pressure and sanction measures on Huawei and other Chinese companies, and push for the stable and healthy development of China-U.S. trade relations,” Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said in Mandarin, per CNBC.
Trump, meanwhile, appears to have already shifted his scrutiny toward another Asian trading partner: India.
I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
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