Trade Discussions on Tariffs in Focus

Market focus is largely attuned to trade discussions between the U.S. and China this week, with investors hopeful they might be able to find a way to resolve an escalating global trade conflict. In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat during mid-morning deals, with sectors and major bourses pointing in opposite directions.

Europe’s autos stocks were the worst performers Wednesday morning, down more than 2.4% after the White House announced that the plans to impose tariffs on autos imports would be pushed back. In a Wall Street Journal interview published Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that a decision regarding autos charges would be delayed because of ongoing negotiations with Mexico, Canada and the European Commission.

Tariff talks also meant that Asian markets had a mixed session, with sentiments lifted by Wall Street’s strong Tuesday session which saw the S&P 500 touch an all-time high.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed higher by 0.64% at 22,362.55. South Korea’s Kospi closed up by 0.14% at 2,273.33. The Hang Seng index recovered from its earlier losses to trade higher by 0.53%. In the mainland China markets ended the trading day in negative territory, with the Shanghai composite down by 0.7% to close at 2,714.61 while the Shenzhen composite was lower by 1.139% at 1,454.51.

In Australia the ASX 200 closed 0.29% lower at 6,266, as sectors such as utilities and the heavilyweighted financials subindex traded lower. The telecommunications sector was one of the few which closed in positive territory Down Under, up by more than 7.54% on the back of news that TPG Telecom was looking at a potential merger with its rival Vodafone Hutchison Australia. Following the news, shares of TPG surged and closed up by 21.62 percent.

U.S. stock index futures attempted to shake off renewed political worries surrounding President Donald Trump on the day the bull market was set to become the longest on record. The current bull market turned 3,453 days old on Wednesday. In that time, the S&P 500 has skyrocketed more than 300%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 12 points, indicating a decline of 23.29 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to small declines.