- Risk-off currencies relieved on the trade talk clarifications.
- Chinese trip was cancelled out of concern that it would turn into a media circus.
Trade talks were a theme at the end of the week which weighed on the price of US stocks as reports that the Chinese delegation abruptly ended the talk on Friday concerned investors. The benchmarks closed in the red for the first weekly decline in a month and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 160.60 points, or 0.59%, at 26,934.19, while the S&P 500 index dropped 14.89 points, or 0.5%, to 2,991.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 65.20 points to reach 8,117.67, a decline of 0.8%.
At the same time, U.S. President Trump threw cold water on expectations of a sense of urgency from the US administration with respect to finding a solution to the trade dispute. “We’re looking for a complete deal. I’m not looking for a partial deal,” Trump said, rejecting suggestions that he needed an agreement for his reelection campaign. “I don’t think I need it before the election. I think people know that we’re doing a great job,” the president added when speaking at a joint news conference Friday with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Trade talks going ahead as planned
The Chinese delegation cancelled trips to Montana and Nebraska starting this weekend and into next week for discussions with the farming communities there. However, in more recent reports about the circumstances, “instead, the trip was cancelled out of concern that it would turn into a media circus and give the misimpression that China was trying to meddle in American domestic politics” according to the New York Times. Indeed, markets are in a state of flux over the trade talks but they should take comfort that talks are still planned to continue throughout October as scheduled. At a glance, the FX space is showing signs of relief with AUD/CHF and AUD/JPY rising in the open.
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