US equity markets rebounded late in the session to close little changed last Friday (8 February) - Dow lost 63-points or 0.53%, paring an earlier -286-point decline. The broader S&P500 inched +0.07% higher after falling as much as -0.9% in earlier trading. The S&P500 has traded positively in the closing hour for the past seven sessions. The technology-centric NASDAQ similarly recovered from a fall of as much as -0.9% to settle +0.14% higher. US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead a group of officials from the Trump administration who are travelling to Beijing for negotiations with their Chinese counterparts that start tonight AEDT. The meeting comes two weeks after Chinese officials visited Washington for a round of talks as the world’s two largest economies seek to hash out differences over trade, tariffs and China’s economic policies. President Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping reached a 90-day truce that expires on 1 March albeit CNBC reported that this deadline could move. Separately, there were reports that President Trump is expected to sign an executive order banning Chinese telecom equipment from US wireless networks before a major industry conference at the end of February. Elsewhere, President Trump and congressional lawmakers have until Friday (15 February) to agree on a budget deal to avert another partial shutdown of the federal government. For the week, Dow +0.17%, S&P500 +0.05% and Nasdaq +0.47%
