Hong Kong
Asian markets fell on Tuesday morning with investors keeping a nervous eye on the China-US trade talks with less than a week until Washington is due to impose fresh tariffs on Chinese goods.
The general consensus is that the two superpowers will eventually hammer out a partial pact as part of a wider agreement, which has fuelled a global equity rally for weeks, though comments from both sides—both optimistic and downbeat—are keeping dealers on their toes.
While the week is chock-full of key events including the UK general election and central bank decisions in the US and Europe, observers say the China-US negotiations are the only game in town.
The key concern for now is that with the December 15 deadline approaching, Donald Trump still has not scrapped planned levies on $160 billion of Chinese goods, which many fear could derail the long-running talks.
“Given the market has bought into the December tariff delay in a big way, all hell could break loose if the tariffs don’t get postponed,” said Stephen Innes at AxiTrader.
“Indeed, that would be a bitter pill for investors to swallow as the reality.. sets in that they have yet again been taken down the trade talk garden path only to end up at the cliff edge.”—AFP
