Trump wants to cut a trade deal with China to rally the markets

The slump faced by financial markets due to the feisty trade war between the United States (US) and China is a concern for US President Donald Trump, and he is increasingly vested to strike a trade deal with China to calm the markets, people involved in the trade talks have disclosed.

On Tuesday night, Mr Trump tweeted the words: “Talks with China are going very well!” on his Twitter feed, a short post which gathered 107,000 likes and 17,000 retweets hours after his tweet.

The trade talks between the US and China will continue for an unscheduled third day on Wednesday, US officials said.

The S&P 500 Index has fallen about 8% since early December last year, after Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on a 90-day trade talk truce. According to a Bloomberg report, key economic advisers are trying to resolve the trade conflict to help soothe battered markets.

US’ Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that the talks had gone well while US commerce secretary Wilber Ross had on Monday said both sides could reach a trade deal the US “can live with”.

US’ officials have attributed the recent market volatility to the tightening of the US monetary policy, the US Federal Reserve’s tough stance on tightening, and the country’s trade war with China.

But some observers note that the talks between the world’s two largest economies have received no breakthroughs since May, as Beijing is tentative to give in to larger demands from the US.

US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, the person leading the China talks, has been pushing for a harder stance in the negotiations by addressing the concerns of China’s alleged intellectual property theft, and tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

Global markets bump up on trade talk progress

Following Wall Street’s rally where the broad-based S&P 500 Index advanced 0.97% and tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 1.08%, morning trade in Asia saw Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up by 1.40%, and Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index 0.85% higher.

By afternoon 2.40pm Singapore time, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.96% or 29.90 points, at 3,152.84 while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index closed the day’s trading higher by 1.10% or 223.02 points, at 20,427.06. The Hang Seng Index climbed 2.04% or 527.48 points, at 26,402.93.

Oil prices rise over 2% on trade talk bullishness

Oil prices rose more than 2.00% on Tuesday, as investors hoped the demand for crude oil will increase when the trade dispute gets resolved.

US West Texas Intermediate was up US$1.26, or 2.60 per cent, at US$49.78 a barrel while the Brent crude futures rose US$1.39 a barrel, or 2.40 per cent, to US$58.72.