US stocks are poised to open higher and build on strength, Tuesday, soaring on hopes that US and China trade tensions will cool after negotiators meet this week, in the Chinese capital city of Beijing.
Current data shows that US futures are looking at a gain of about 0.8 percent at market open for both the Standard & Poors 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. And across the globe, it looks like similarly positive outlooks are holding on. The StoxxEurope 600, for example, was up 0.6 percent with Asian markets also up: Japan’s Nikkei exchange posted 2.6 percent while Hong Kong’s Hange Seng Index improved 0.1 percent and Shanghai Stock Exchange gained 0.7 percent, all on Tuesday.
Apparently, the upward sentiment has support from an agreement among US lawmakers that would prevent another partial government shutdown this week. This new deal would then give $1.38 billion in new funding to satisfy US President Trump’s persistence for a new, physical barrier along the US-Mexico border.
But that is really a side-note to the bigger issue. The major focus is the high-level trade negotiations between the United States and China. After all, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthzer, along with US Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, are scheduled to meet with the Chinese vice premier in Beijing to try and finalize a deal before the newly scheduled tariffs arrive next month. These tariffs will directly affect some $200 billion in Chinese exports by raising their tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent.
Overall, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 210 points by 7am on Tuesday with other indices to follow. In fact, both the Standard & Poors and Nasdaq 100 showed boosts of 100 on the morning. Still, it is important to remember that this is quite a volatile time, so investors will closely watch for any US economic data to be published, this week. This includes not only updates on trade relations, but info as consistent and reliable as the inflation numbers as well as the December retail-sales figures, set for Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
