World shares mostly higher ahead of earnings reports




Spread the love

BANGKOK (AP) — Stock markets mostly rose on Tuesday as investors gauged the outlook for the U.S.-China trade dispute and looked to earnings reports from large banks.

Germany’s DAX advanced 0.4% to 12,537 and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6% to 5,674. London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,185. In New York, futures were higher, with the contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.4% and that for the S&P 500 up 0.3%.

Stocks rallied after officials announced a preliminary agreement Friday following the latest round of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. But optimism over the agreement appeared to be fading this week.

On Tuesday, investors will keep an eye on earnings reports from major banks in cluding JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.6% to 2,991.05 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong edged 0.1% lower to 26,503.93. South Korea’s Kospi gained less than 0.1% to 2,068.17 and the S&P ASX 200 added 0.1% to 6,652.00. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.9% to 22,207.21 as Tokyo reopened from a public holiday and investors caught up on the news.

The truce between Washington and Beijing calls for the U.S. to suspend a planned hike in tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods that had been set to kick in Tuesday. Beijing, meanwhile, agreed to buy $40 billion to $50 billion in U.S. farm products.

“That said, the abovementioned items are no doubt the lower hanging fruits in attempting a deal between the two sides. Few are likely ruling out the possibility that there could be more twists and turns in this matter of U.S.-China trade conflict,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.

The U.S. did not, however, cancel plans for more tariffs in December and the sticking points of intellectual property and trade secrets still hang over the dispute. And the overall picture hasn’t changed for companies, which are still holding off on forecasts and investments because of the uncertain trade situation.

In other trading, benchmark crude oil fell 59 cents to $53.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.11 on Monday.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, lost 44 cents to $59.91 per barrel. It dropped $1.16 the day before in London.

The dollar fell to 108.27 Japanese yen from 108.40 yen on Monday. The euro dipped to $1.1006 from $1.1027.