Major US equity indices witnessed a rather mixed opening on Thursday as investors refrained from placing aggressive bets amid a fresh escalation in the US-China trade war.
Another round of US tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese imports went into effect on Thursday, while China also confirmed its own tariffs on a list of $16 billion US good and revived fears of a full-blown US-China trade war.
Investors’ sentiment was also hit by worries over the US President Donald Trump’s political standing, especially after Trump’s two former campaign advisers were found guilty on a range of charges, fueling speculation about impeachment.
The latest political turmoil, so far, has little impact on the equity markets against the backdrop of encouraging second-quarter earnings season, which has been supportive of the market’s recent uptrend. Bullish traders also seemed inspired by the Fed’s upbeat economic outlook, reinforced by the incoming strong economic data.
Investors will get another clue over the central bank’s monetary policy stance from the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the annual Economic Policy Symposium, in Jackson Hole.
At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average treaded water near yesterday’s closing level, around 25,725, while the broader S&P 500 Index added nearly 3-points to 2,865. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index outperformed the broader markets and climbed over 25-points to move back above the 7,900 mark.
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