Today, the stock market is experiencing an upswing as former President Donald Trump announced plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. This anticipated meeting has sparked optimism among investors.
Trump, while hosting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House on Monday, shared, “We’re going to be meeting in South Korea in a couple of weeks, and we’ll see what we can do.” His statement has invigorated market confidence, leading to notable gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 500 points, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index, known for its tech companies, also saw a significant rise of 1.52 percent. These increases reflect the market’s hopeful outlook on the upcoming diplomatic engagement.
Earlier this month, Trump had hinted at possibly skipping a meeting with Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which is set to take place in Gyeongju, South Korea. This was in response to tensions over trade policies.
Central to these tensions is Trump’s threat to impose an additional 100 percent tariff if China does not ease its export controls on rare earth metals by November 1. These metals are crucial for the U.S. in manufacturing vehicles, fighter jets, and electronics.
However, toward the end of last week, Trump appeared to soften his stance, suggesting there was “no reason” why he and Xi should not meet. This shift has been interpreted as a positive sign for potential progress in trade negotiations.
Stocks ripped higher on the even more positive framing on Monday as the rollercoaster year for the market continued, with the major indexes now just inches away from the all time highs they reached at the start of October.
Apple led the market, soaring 4 percent after it was upgraded to a ‘buy’ from a ‘hold’ by investment bank Loop Capital, which pointed to strong iPhone demand.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on October 17
Also giving stocks a lift was a signal that the government shutdown’s end could be in sight, as National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that it ‘is likely to end sometime this week.’
Smaller and midcap banks ticked up, recovering some of their losses after a couple raised alarm bells last week by warning about potentially bad loans they’ve made.
That raised questions about whether the growing list of problems is just a collection of one-offs or a signal of something larger threatening the entire industry.
Zions Bancorp. rose 1 percent following its 5.1 percent drop last week. It will report its latest quarterly earnings after trading ends for the day, and scrutiny will be high after it said it’s charging off $50 million of loans where it found ‘apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults’ by the borrowers.
This will be a heavier week for corporate earnings reports generally. Big names delivering their latest results will include Coca-Cola on Tuesday, Tesla on Wednesday and Procter & Gamble on Friday.
The pressure is on companies to show that their profits are growing because they need to justify the big gains their stock prices have made.
The S&P 500 is still near its all-time high, which was set earlier this month following a torrid 35 percent run from a low in April.
Delivering bigger profits is one of the easiest ways for companies to quiet criticism that stock prices have gone too high. The other is for stock prices to fall.
Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping shake hands while walking at Mar-a-Lago estate after a bilateral meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 7, 2017
Corporate profit reports have also taken on more importance because they´re offering windows into the strength of the economy when the government shutdown has delayed many important economic updates.
That’s making the job of the Federal Reserve more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger problem for the economy.
Fed officials have indicated they’re likely to cut interest rates a few more times through next year in order to give the economy a boost. But that could be a mistake if inflation worsens because low interest rates can push prices even higher.
On Friday, the government will issue an update for inflation during September. The report was supposed to arrive earlier in month, and the Social Security Administration needs the numbers to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for beneficiaries.
But the government said, ‘No other releases will be rescheduled or produced until the resumption of regular government services.’
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.99 percent from 4.02 percent late Friday.
Treasury yields have been falling recently, and lower yields help make stock prices look less expensive by encouraging some investors to buy stocks when they otherwise would have bought bonds.
On Wall Street, Amazon’s stock held relatively steady despite a widespread outage for its cloud computing service that caused disruption for internet users around the world early Monday. Amazon´s stock rose 0.6 percent.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Japan´s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.4 percent, after its governing Liberal Democrats found a new coalition partner, securing support for its leader Sanae Takaichi to become the country´s first female prime minister. Investors expect Takaichi to push for low interest rates, higher government spending and other policies that could help the market.
Indexes rose 2.4 percent in Hong Kong and 0.6 percent in Shanghai after China reported its economy grew at a 4.8 percent annual pace in the last quarter, supported by relatively strong exports as companies increased shipments markets other than America.
Still, it was the slowest pace in a year. The world’s second-largest economy is still struggling to emerge from a prolonged downturn in its property market and to encourage consumers and businesses to spend more.
