World Stocks Rally as Trump Delays China Tariffs

Global stocks rose Monday after US President Donald Trump said he would delay a hike in tariffs on Chinese goods and described the two countries as being in “advanced stages” of negotiations towards a deal.

Trump said expects to hold a “signing summit” with China’s President Xi Jinping and touted the rally in US stocks over the course of his presidency as evidence “we are bringing back American faster than anyone thought possible.”

China’s Xinhua news agency also said Washington and Beijing had “made substantial progress on specific issues” including on transfer of technology, intellectual property and agriculture.

The trade confrontation has dogged markets for months, but the latest positive signs provided a boost, lifting equities worldwide, although Wall Street profit taking late in the session cut into the gains in New York.

Most key European markets were firmly in the black by the close, but London underperformed, finishing narrowly positive. Shanghai had spearheaded gains across Asia with a surge of more than five percent, while Hong Kong and Tokyo each rose 0.5 percent. “Global markets are on the rise… as markets celebrate the news of an indefinite delay to the deadline beyond which US will ramp up tariffs on Chinese imports,” said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.

China Trade Deal (and more) in advanced stages. Relationship between our two Countries is very strong. I have therefore agreed to delay U.S. tariff hikes. Let’s see what happens?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

Trump also made a splash in the oil market on Monday, causing petroleum prices to fall by more than three percent from three-month peaks when he urged OPEC to help cut “high” prices and aid the “fragile” world economy.  “Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy,” he tweeted. Trump’s comments were a catalyst for the drop in oil prices, but the impact could soon be reversed, said Robbie Fraser, global commodity analyst at Schneider Electric “The market could find support later this week as trade relations continue to eye improvement between the US and China,” Fraser said. “That could continue to ease demand concerns, particularly if coupled with strong crude and product draws from this week’s inventory reports.”

Britain and the United States meanwhile agreed Monday to hold on to their system of handling multi-trillion dollar financial transactions to avoid market uncertainty following Brexit. The UK and US carry out trades of derivatives — or securities whose value is based on an underlying asset such as currencies, stocks and commodities — worth a combined $2.4 trillion daily, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told a press conference in London.