U.S. equities sustained their bid despite Treasury's denial that Secretary Mnuchin is mulling beginning to wind down tariffs on China, which gave stocks a bullish jolt late yesterday. Global equities warmed to the possibility of a breakthrough on the tariff front nonetheless. That trigger helped lift the S&P 500 above its 50-day moving average at 2,626.8 yesterday, which could give the stock market a bullish technical leg to stand on near-term. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei surged 1.3%, the HK Hang Seng jumped 1.25% and China CSI gained 1.8%, amid hopes of further stimulus as well. Headwinds in Europe were overshadowed by a 1.7% gain in the Euro Stoxx 50, 1.6% rise in the UK FTSE 100 and a 1.8% pop in the German DAX. On Wall Street, the Dow is +152-points, S&P gained 12-points and NASDAQ is 34-points firmer. Yet on the bearish front, Telsa lost some traction after confirming a 7% reduction in staffing, while Apple supplier Foxconn slashed 50k in staff due to the iPhone sales slump and State Street also announced jobs cuts in high cost regions. On tap next are industrial production, U. Michigan sentiment and Fedspeak from Williams and Harker
