Stocks rallied this morning on hopes of better relations between the U.S. and China. Subsequent headlines indicated that may be true.
An article from Reuters in the late morning said that China purchased at least 500,000 tons of U.S. soybeans. It cited commodity traders close to the action rather than government officials.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported Beijing would replace a program known as Made in China 2025. That would effectively reduce the practice of forced technology transfers — a key bone of contention in recent talks. A separate article from CNBC indicated the Europeans have joined forces with U.S. President Trump on this issue.
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Just yesterday, Bloomberg News said China would make a long-sought concession to Washington by reducing auto tariffs.
All these developments come after the arrest of an important Chinese technology executive. Maybe that won’t become such a fatal deal killer after all…
At least one other important item snuck out with little notice: Italy cut its planned budget deficit to satisfy Brussels, potentially removing a major worry about Europe’s finances.
In conclusion, most of these stories are incremental and unconfirmed. But there may have been important progress on some important areas worrying investors.
