Wall Street dips as euphoria over China-US trade truce fades and new inflation data arrives
By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MATT OTT Associated Press Business Writers Wall Street is on track to open with losses Tuesday as the initial euphoria over the -day truce in the U S -China transaction war faded and markets turned their attention to corporate earnings and new inflation statistics Futures for the S P slipped while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Nasdaq futures ticked down just ahead of the authorities s latest statement on inflation at the consumer level UnitedHealth Group shares tumbled more than after it suspended its full-year financial forecast due to higher-than-expected diagnostic costs The nation s largest robustness insurer also informed that CEO Andrew Witty was stepping down for personal reasons and that Chairman Stephen Hemsley will become CEO effective directly Boeing shares got a small boost on media reports that China had lifted a ban on airlines there taking deliveries of the U S aerospace giant s planes According to reports China removed those obstacles as part of Monday s business truce with the U S Boeing shares rose close to in premarket trading Tuesday Stocks soared Monday after the United States commented in a joint announcement with China that it will cut tariffs on Chinese goods to from as high as for days China meanwhile disclosed its tariffs on U S goods will fall to from The agreement allows time for more talks following the weekend s negotiations in Geneva Switzerland which the U S side announced yielded substantial progress The outcome surpassed most of expectations reassuring investors announced Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management Make no mistake this was highly stage-managed diplomacy But the optics are good and the implications real It signals that even this administration recognizes the economic drag of unrelenting tariffs he announced in a commentary Still big challenges remain in the negotiations between Beijing and Washington and a large number of countries have yet to negotiate tariff-alleviating deals of their own I think investors are aware that the pact deal is not done yet It s not done deal yet commented Louis Wong director for Phillip Securities Group in Hong Kong I would advise investors to remain cautious in the near term and to be prepared for unexpected news from the exchange front he added European markets edged higher with Germany s DAX and the CAC in Paris each gaining Britain s FTSE was flat Beijing s anger over the bargain war remained apparent Speaking to authorities from China and Latin America on Tuesday leader Xi Jinping reiterated China s stance that nobody wins a transaction war and that Bullying or hegemonism only leads to self-isolation Tokyo s Nikkei jumped to Automakers were among the big gainers after the U S dollar surged against the Japanese yen Toyota Motor Corp gained and Suzuki Motor Corp was higher Nissan Motor Co added ahead of an announcement that it plans to lay off of its workers as part of its restructuring efforts The automaker commented Tuesday that it racked up a loss of billion yen billion in the last fiscal year The Kospi in South Korea was nearly unchanged at Hong Kong s Hang Seng which gained a day earlier after Chinese and U S agents reported the agreement to pause tariffs and reduce them fell to on heavy selling of hardware shares The Shanghai Composite index edged higher to and Taiwan s Taiex jumped India s Sensex fell In Australia the S P ASX climbed to In capacity trading U S benchmark crude oil added cents to per barrel Brent crude the international standard gained cents to per barrel Associated Press video journalist Alice Fung contributed from Hong Kong
