The Fed has been gradually raising interest rates over the past two years, after not having increased them since the recession

SINGAPORE — Share prices in Asia rebounded Friday on a report that President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping may meet at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina in late November.

The Wall Street Journal said the White House had informed officials in Beijing that it would go ahead with a summit meeting in Buenos Aires. It cited unnamed sources from both sides.

There was no immediate word from Chinese officials in Beijing.

The aim was to find a way out of the impasse over trade that has led both countries to impose penalty tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s exports.

Strong Chinese export data also helped breathe life into share benchmarks that had languished in recent days.

Defying tariffs, China’s trade surplus with the United States grew to a record $34.1 billion in September, customs data showed. This marked a jump of 13 percent over a year earlier.

Its exports to the United States rose to $46.7 billion although growth was slower than in August. Imports of U.S. goods grew too, but at a slower pace than before. On the overall, China’s global exports picked up and its imports steadily increased.

Asia’s rebound followed another rout Thursday on Wall Street, where indexes tumbled for a second straight day on worries that rising interest rates and trade tensions could hurt global growth.

“It seems Asia has had a reassessment, and calmer heads have prevailed as we close out the week,” Chris Weston of Pepperstone Group Limited said in a commentary.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.5 percent Friday to 22,694.66 after sinking early in the day following a nearly 4 percent loss on Thursday. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 rose 0.2 percent to 5,895.70.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.8 percent to 25,726.78. The Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.9 percent to 2,606.91. Shares rallied in Taiwan and rose throughout Southeast Asia.

A decline in the yield on 10-year Treasury yields hit bank stocks, while technology and retail companies stumbled. The benchmark S&P 500 index started the day with gains, but ended losing 2.1 percent to 2,728.37, its lowest close in three months and sixth straight loss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.1 percent to 25,052.83 and the Nasdaq composite gave up 1.3 percent to 7,329.06. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 1.9 percent to 1,545.38.

The U.S. Treasury will soon release a currency report that some analysts suggest might change the official stance on China’s exchange rate policy.

Reports that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was advised against labeling China as a currency manipulator – a status that could trigger penalties – have eased tensions, Stephen Innes of OANDA said.

Despite “a semblance of sanity returning,” the markets are ultimately “not out of the weeds,” he added.

The recent turbulence in financial markets is a contrast to what investors have grown accustomed to in a bull market that has lasted more than 10 years, the longest in history. A hallmark of the past decade has been ultra-low interest rates, which the Federal Reserve used to promote growth in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The Fed has been gradually raising interest rates over the past two years, after not having increased them since the recession. Those higher rates have been the catalyst for recent selling, 토토사이트 stoking concerns that slower growth would impinge on corporate profits.

President Trump has been critical of the Fed’s interest rate moves.

Officials at the IMF-World Bank annual meeting, held on the Indonesian island of Bali this week, have called on the U.S. and China to work out their dispute over technology while abiding by world trade rules.

On Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo alluded the tensions to popular TV series “Game of Thrones”. He said fighting among the “great houses” was distracting them from the threat of an “evil winter.”

“Victory or defeat in wars always brings the same result – destruction,” Widodo said.

In other trading, U.S. crude oil added 84 cents to $71.81. The contract dropped 3 percent to close at $70.97 in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, was $1 higher at $81.26. It dropped 3.4 percent to $80.26 in London.

The dollar strengthened to 112.40 yen from 112.13 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1598 from $1.1586.

Wall Street was set for an optimistic open. S&P 500 futures rebounded 1.3 percent to 2,781.50. Dow futures was 1.2 percent higher at 25,494.00.

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Whether it was a world-renowned beauty like Cindy Crawford . . . “What I always say is the way Herb photographed you is the way that you wished you looked when you got up in the morning,” Crawford said . . . . . . or singer-songwriter k.d. lang . . . “I think Herb had a way of understanding how to exude the beauty within,” lang said. “I really do. He knew the balance of the soul and the body, and where the beauty was.” “I presume there got to be a point where people really wanted him to take their picture?” asked Braver. “Oh, absolutely,” said Charles Churchward, a former design director at Conde Nast. “You know, everybody wanted him to take their picture!” Ritts’ friend Churchward thought it was time for a book that celebrated the man as well as the work. “I think people want to know more about who’s behind the camera and something about them,” Churchward said. “And I think that’s what makes them last. And that’s why I wrote the book.” Churchward said that Ritts, who grew up in L.A., introduced a new kind of glamour photography. “Herb had been raised with light, with the beaches, with the sun,” he said. “Everybody before that was in the studio shooting and controlling everything. Suddenly he was able to take the same things outside and make people more natural and yet still have that glamour.” Ritts’ photo of his pal Richard Gere – snapped while the two of them were waiting for a tire to be changed – helped launch both their careers in 1978. Ritts once told CBS News, “Three months later, Vogue, Esquire, Mademoiselle had run all the images from the gas station that I’d taken, which was kind of interesting. And I got paid for it.” Soon, he was getting photographing everyone, from Tom Cruise to Julia Roberts . . . hanging out at Vanity Fair’s Oscar party . . . and hosting his own celebrity-studded birthday bashes. In fact Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere (who were married for 4 years) met at one of Herb’s parties. She said Ritts was just fun to be around: “I mean, he was a mensch,” Crawford said. “I don’t know if you know that word. But he’s just a good guy. He was a total sweetheart. He loved people.” She still remembers the shoot for one of his most famous pictures . . . a bevy of supermodels. “The girls, we were jokingly [calling] it ‘Naked Twister,'” Crawford said. “And I think Herb knew all of us individually, and was friendly with all of us, and that there was a comraderie.” Another Ritts pal talked him into branching out. “Madonna suggested to Herb that he photograph one of her videos,” said Churchward, “and he never did anything like that. But he was game to try anything.” They made her “Cherish” video, and he shot “In the Closet” for Michael Jackson. But it’s his photographs that will be remembered most . . . on display recently at L.A.’s Fahey/Klein Gallery, where an overflow crowd gathered to remember their old friend, and his world.
(CBS News) Senior U.S

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