U.S. stock prices climbed earlier this week as a result of President Trump’s announcement that he would postpone tariff increases on Chinese imports. The United States and China have been in negotiations about how best to resolve the trade war that has disrupted markets and slowed growth all over the world.
As of early this week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.23 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.12 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.36 percent. The S&P 500 posted 2 new lows and 58 new 52-week highs while the Nasdaq Composite produced 14 new lows and 128 new highs. During the last 20 trading days, the average volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.32 billion. At the beginning of this week, volume was 7.36 billion shares.
President Trump has indicated in recent comments that he expects to sign a deal with China as early as March of this year. He said that imposing a tariff increase at this point would only slow talks between the two countries. The United States is calling for verifiable improvements on protections for intellectual property, market access for U.S. services companies, non-tariff barriers, forced technology transfers, and key “structural issues.”
Much is at stake for China as it has endured a transition from an export-led to a consumption-based economy.
