US equity markets rallied to cap a stellar monthly performance - Dow up +73-points or +0.28%, with J.P.Morgan Chase and Co (up +2.7%) a notable performer. The broader S&P500 +0.58%, NASDAQ +0.48%. For the week, the Dow lost -0.45%, S&P500 -0.29% and Nasdaq -0.32%.
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a cease-fire in their trade battle, after meeting on Saturday (29 June) in Japan. The two sides said bilateral talks would resume and the US would indefinitely shelve plans to levy duties on the ~US$300B of Chinese imports that aren’t currently covered by 25% tariffs. In addition, Trump said he would let US firms sell high-tech equipment to Huawei Technologies Co. and China would start buying large amounts of American farm products. The Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Global Times noted that the Chinese negotiators said that the two sides agreed to restart trade consultations based on "equality and mutual respect", something very important to the Chinese side. However, China Daily, an English-language daily China often uses to relay messages, said in an opinion piece that although a US.-China trade deal is now more likely to happen, there’s still a long road ahead before both sides come to a 100 percent agreement. “Even though Washington agreed to postpone levying additional tariffs on Chinese goods to make way for negotiations, and Trump even hinted at putting off decisions on Huawei until the end of negotiations, things are still very much up in the air,” the Chinese Daily editorial published late Saturday stated. “Agreement on 90 percent of the issues has proved not to be enough, and with the remaining 10 percent where their fundamental differences reside, it is not going to be easy to reach a 100-percent consensus, since at this point, they remain widely apart even on the conceptual level,” it continued. Separately, China tweaked a list of sectors off-limits for foreign businesses, relaxing some restrictions on investment. The latest version of the so-called negative list, released Sunday (30 June), allows foreign investors to explore and develop oil and natural gas without having to form joint ventures with Chinese companies. Foreigners will also be permitted to own movie theatres, invest in some mining ventures and increase their holdings beyond 50% in call centres, voice mail, faxes and other value-added telecommunications services.
