Prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal continue to be a key driver for equity and commodity market sentiment. MarketWatch reported yesterday that “U.S. stocks finished at more-than-three-week highs Tuesday as investors cheered a raft of largely upbeat corporate earnings reports, while considering the implications of a partial U.S.-China trade deal announced last Friday and the possibility of a breakthrough in Brexit negotiations.”
Sentiment was less upbeat this morning as the major U.S. stock indexes gave up a portion of yesterday’s gains in early trading, while the Bloomberg Commodity Index fell 0.26% as industrial metal prices lost ground. In Shanghai, most-actively traded SHFE nickel futures settled 0.8% lower today and in London LME 3-mo. nickel futures traded as low as $16,430/mt. In New York, COMEX copper futures slipped by around 3 cents to $2.58/lb. this morning while NYMEX crude oil futures advanced to around $53/bbl. In foreign exchange trading the dollar eased against most major trading rivals in early trading as the euro firmed to $1.104 and the British pound edged up to $1.2805, while the greenback was buying 108.8 Japanese yen.
