Who’s afraid of the big bad trade war? Not world stock markets it seems. The response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to go ahead next week with collecting 10 percent tariffs on another $200 billion (152.23 billion pounds) of Chinese goods, ratcheting up to 25 percent in January, was unusual and unexpected on Tuesday. It initially hit U.S. stocks, Treasuries and the dollar [/FRX] while stirring a rally in Chinese equities [.SS] and the yuan. China then confirmed it would retaliate but still traders refused to flinch. European stocks ...

Global stocks edged up Tuesday after President Donald Trump said Monday he would impose new levies on about $200 million in Chinese goods. The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.3%, with China-exposed indexes shrugging off early pressure in Asia-Pacific trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was last up 0.7%, while Shanghai Composite Index was 1.6% higher and the tech-heavy Shenzhen A Share was up 1.5%. U.S. futures pointed to flat opens for the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Those moves came despite the news late ...

European equities can deliver gains and the key to success is corporate simplification, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists. The region’s stocks have struggled to match the U.S. rally this year as concerns about trade wars, Italian politics and exposure to emerging-market crises have spooked investors. But, according to Goldman, there’s hope for positive — yet weak — returns over the next year as European companies go through an “unprecedented” period of portfolio restructuring, with the speed of asset divestments and spinoffs exceeding pre-crisis peaks. Equity investors are embracing ...

Concerns about trade relations between the U.S. and China weighed down global stocks Monday following reports of fresh tariffs on Beijing. Futures pointed to a 0.1% opening dip for the S&P 500 after Shanghai stocks closed at their lowest in nearly four years. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2% midday, led lower by the technology sector. The moves followed news that the U.S. economic conflict with China is set to escalate this week, as the Trump administration plans to unveil new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products entering the ...

Concerns about trade relations between the U.S. and China dragged down global stocks Monday, with major indexes starting the week with losses. The Stoxx Europe 600 edged down 0.2% in early trading, following steeper declines in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Futures pointed to a 0.2% dip for the S&P 500. The moves followed news that the U.S. economic conflict with China is set to escalate this week, as the Trump administration plans to unveil new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products entering the U.S. and Beijing debates new ways ...

Already stung by a defensive stance on U.S. stocks, the smart money is only getting more cautious. Hedge funds’ net leverage, a measure of the industry’s risk appetite, has fallen to the lowest level this year after a brief bounce in late August, client data compiled by Morgan Stanley showed. At 49 percent, the ratio is down from a peak of more than 60 percent in March. Hedge funds’ reluctance to increase equity exposure underscores a growing skepticism about the durability of the S&P 500 Index’s outperformance against equity markets ...

Near-record U.S. stocks still have scope to zoom to new highs, according to Robert Shiller, the Nobel laureate who’s famed for his analysis of asset-price bubbles and who last year warned that the market was over-priced. “The stock market could get a lot higher before it comes down,” Shiller said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Thursday. “It’s highly priced, but it could get much more highly priced. It’s a risky market now.” The comments are a contrast with increasing focus on gauging when the next bear market kicks in. ...

Emerging markets in Asia are in a stronger position than peers elsewhere because of solid economic growth prospects, low inflation and strong reserve buffers, said Singapore’s central bank chief. While the region’s developing economies won’t be spared from the market turmoil that’s hit countries from Argentina to Turkey, once the “adjustment has run its course” investors will be better able to discern that countries like Indonesia have taken the right steps in response, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said on a panel at a Milken ...

Global stocks inched higher Friday as trade prospects appeared to improve, putting most major indexes on track for weekly gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.2% in morning trading, while markets in Asia closed higher and futures pointed to a 0.2% opening rise for the S&P 500 after notching its biggest gain in two weeks. Stocks have swung back and forth in recent sessions as investors attempt to assess the potential impact of new trade agreements on supply chains and the global economy. The latest boost for stocks appeared ...

Global stocks rose Friday as trade prospects appeared to improve, putting most major indexes on track for weekly gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 edged up 0.4% in early trading, while markets in Asia closed higher and futures pointed to a 0.2% opening rise for the S&P 500. The S&P 500 notched its biggest gain in two weeks on Thursday, lifted by optimism about U.S.-China trade talks and gains in Apple and other technology companies. Stocks appeared to rise on news the Trump administration is giving Beijing another chance to try ...

While U.S. equity investors have kept their cool during this year’s escalation of trade tensions, the warnings from Wall Street are only getting louder. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have weighed in, highlighting the potential danger to corporate America if a full-blown trade war erupts. In separate notes this week, strategists at the firms estimated the possible hit to earnings. Goldman chief strategist David Kostin went as far as to call for a bear market under a scenario where the U.S. imposed 10 percent tariffs on ...

To the extent anyone on Wall Street cares—and many will tell you they don’t—records in stocks are good for one thing: advertising. Talk all you want about rates of return or piling it up for retirement, but nothing beats a headline about an all-time high for bringing customers in the door. And in they have come. Cheered by what’s become by some measures the longest bull market on record, U.S. investors have plowed money into U.S. stock exchange-traded funds at a rate of almost $12 billion a month since the ...

Global stocks inched higher Thursday, with the optimism that followed the prospect of fresh U.S.-China trade talks ebbing as investors parsed a raft of central bank decisions. Futures pointed to 0.1% gains at the opening bell for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq Composite Index. The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% in late-morning trading, with falling oil and gas stocks among those taking the shine off a rise of 1.6% in the index’s trade-sensitive autos and parts sector. The International Energy Agency’s monthly oil ...

Global stocks pared some of their early-September losses Thursday, climbing after the news the U.S. had invited China to a new round of trade talks. The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% in early trading, led by a 1% rise in basic-resources stocks, which is trade-sensitive. U.S. futures pointed to flat trading at the opening bell. The moves followed upbeat trading in Asia-Pacific as Chinese banks helped push Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index 2.4% higher. The Japanese Nikkei also rose 1% and the Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.2%, although ...

Nearly all major stock markets bear the scars of this year’s trade war, even the surging U.S. bourse, according to UBS Group AG. Strategists at the Swiss bank including Vassili Serebriakov isolated the impact of equity moves on “trade shock” days to show the Shanghai Composite Index has been cut by 11.1 percentage points, and Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index by 7.9 points so far this year. The effect on the S&P 500 Index is lower, but still about 3 percentage points, they said. The Chinese benchmark is down more than ...