US equity markets eked out modest gains to finish the week despite conflicting reports around the US-China trade negotiations, with all three benchmark indices logging fresh record closing highs - Dow inched +6-points higher to 27,681.24. Walt Disney Co (up +3.76%) was the leading index performer a day after Walt Disney launches its much anticipated streaming service, Disney+, in the US, Canada and the Netherlands on Tuesday (12 November). The broader S&P500 added +0.26% to 3,093.08, logging its fourth record closing high in the past six sessions. The technology-centric NASDAQ +0.48% to 8,475.31. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (up +0.27%) is aiming to raise US$10B to US$15B in a second listing in Hong Kong as soon as this month, according to people familiar with the matter, reviving the planned offering even as the city’s political climate remains unstable. A listing of $10B or more would surpass Uber Technologies Inc as the biggest stock offering so far this year, although it could quickly be overtaken by oil producer Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering. For the week, the Dow rose +1.22%, S&P500 +0.85% (to log its first five week winning streak since March) and Nasdaq +1.06%. White House adviser Peter Navarro said that the US had not agreed to roll back tariffs, following reports that there were disagreements within the Trump administration whether to remove existing import levies. President Trump later cast further doubt on whether there would be a rollback on exiting tariffs on Chinese goods, confirming that he had not made a final decision a day after officials from both countries reportedly said that a framework had been laid out for rolling back existing import duties on top of the ones that were set to kick in at 15 December as part of a phase one trade deal. Mr Navarro repeated late on Friday (8 November) in an interview with Yahoo Finance’s The Final Round that "There is no agreement to rollback any exiting tariffs as part of the Phase One deal, noting that it was never on the table when the parties met and had a handshake deal in October.
