U.S. equities rebounded again on Tuesday thanks to an overnight softening of trade chatter out of China, where President Xi offered to lower the tariff on imported automobiles and was generally supportive of the idea of free open trade. Wall Street translated this as a walk back of recent rhetoric. And even President Trump took to Twitter to express appreciation for the speech.
But these comments largely repeated what Xi said at Davos earlier in the year. And it sets up a good cop/bad cop dynamic with Xi seen as the more favorable actor. China has yet to respond to Trump’s additional $100 billion in trade tariffs announced late last week. Moreover, the Special Counsel investigation into Trump reached a fever pitch after the office and hotel of Trump’s personal attorney were raided in a “no knock” search by Federal agents.
Trump is reportedly fuming at the apparent violation of attorney-client privilege and could well fire Mueller or top Justice Department officials in response to what he has labeled a “Witch Hunt.”
In pre-market trading, the S&P 500 is down 0.82%, the Nasdaq Composite is down 0.83% and the Down Jones Industrial Average is down 0.85%.
Energy stocks perked up on concern Trump will soon launch a military strike against Syria in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack. The group gained 3.3% with Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) up 2.9%, rising above its 50-day moving average for the first time since January.
Yesterday, Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) gained 4.5% to jump back over its 20-day moving average as CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to address data privacy concerns in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
And Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) gained 17.1% on reports the company has restarted merger talks with T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) for the first time since late last year.
Wednesday will be another busy day for stocks, with the release of the latest Fed meeting minutes as well as likely clarity on Trump’s intentions on Syria and clarity in the Special Counsel investigation.
Check out Serge Berger’s Trade of the Day for April 11.
Today’s Trading Landscape
To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today, click here.
For a list of this week’s economic reports due out, click here.
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