US open: Small gains before Trump and Xi meet at G20
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 30 Nov 2018
(Sharecast News) - Trading on Wall Street started with small gains on Friday as investors eyed the G20 summit, with Donald Trump Xi Jinping set to meet to discuss trade the following day.
At 1540 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.05% higher at 25,352.11, while the S&P 500 had picked up 0.31% to trade at 2,746.12 and the Nasdaq was 0.44% firmer at 7,304.89.
All eyes were on Trump and China's Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Argentina amid hopes that the pair will be able to reach a truce in their trade war.
David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, said: "The consensus seems to feel that a breakthrough is unlikely but Trump prides himself on his self-proclaimed deal-making abilities and may well look to broker an agreement especially considering the recent decline in the stock market which undermines his claims that the rally since he took office is a result of his policies."
Trump said on Thursday that he was "close to doing something with China" on trade but wasn't sure he wanted to. He made the remarks to reporters as he prepared to depart for the summit.
"Because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes, so I really don't know," he said. "I will tell you that I think China wants to make a deal, I'm hoping to make it a deal but, frankly, I like the deal we have right now."
On another front, also on Friday leaders from the US, Canada and Mexico inked a new trade agreement that will replace NAFTA.
"It is probably the largest trade deal ever made," said Trump after signing.
The deal described by president Trump as "a model agreement" comes after a year of negotiations that saw NAFTA binned. Trump spent months trying to convince leaders of Canada and Mexico to agree to new North American trade rules.
On the corporate front, Marriott International shares were down 5.12% in early trade after the company said a guest reservation database of its Starwood Hotel was breached, potentially exposing the data of about 500m guests.
Elsewhere, shares of LabCorp were in the red, plummeting by 10.38% following the release of its full-year results, while stock in GameStop tumbled 7.6% after the video game retailer slashed its full-year earnings outlook.
On the macroeconomic calendar, economic activity in the Chicago area unexpectedly improved in November, according to figures released on Friday.
The MNI Chicago business barometer index rose to 66.4 from 58.4 in October, beating expectations for a drop to 58.0 and was comfortably above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion. It marked the most impressive performance for the gauge so far this year and put an end to a three-month run of declines.
MNI said there were increases across all five of the barometer's subcomponents, with resurgent orders, solid output and higher unfinished orders the key drivers this month.
Jamie Satchi, economist at MNI Indicators, said: "The MNI Chicago Business Barometer clipped a run of three consecutive declines in emphatic style in November, boosted primarily by resurgent orders - stronger than typically seen at this time of year and enough to push the barometer to its best level since December.
"However, many firms reported seeing the effects of higher China tariffs on their invoices for the first time, and voiced concern that business could be stifled going forward."
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN