Optimism about a trade deal between the U.S. and China remained high on Tuesday, though Asian markets failed to reflect the sentiment, trading mostly lower in the early afternoon in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.07 percent as of 1:46 p.m. HK/SIN, but most other Asian indexes were struggling. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.35 percent, as was China’s Shenzhen Composite. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.42 percent and South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.18 percent.
Few details of the high-level trade talks have been released, but there have been rumors that U.S. President Donald Trump will extend his March 1st deadline if the talks continue to progress. Last week, the Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, claimed that the U.S. is willing to make a deal, which analysts believe will be based solely on a decrease in China’s trade surplus with the U.S., and not on the structural reforms President Trump has been lobbying for. A deal of this nature (or any deal, actually), would likely send Wall Street indexes higher and improve Trump’s public image in advance of the upcoming elections.
U.S. WTI prices were up 0.36 percent to $55.79 per barrel, though Brent crude futures were down 0.38 percent to $66.25 per barrel as traders awaited news from the trade negotiations which are beginning again today in Washington.
The dollar index was trading flat, with the greenback lower against the British pund and the euro, but higher against the Canadian dollar. The dollar was stable against the yen, trading at 110.61.