China's Losing the Trade War, Badly
It’s been a good week for the market. Over the last four (and a half) trading sessions, 70 S&P 500 companies reported Q3 earnings.
A little more than 80% of them beat analyst expectations.
So, it’s no surprise to see that after the first week of earnings season, the indexes are trading higher. The S&P and Nasdaq Composite are both up over 1% since last Friday, while the Dow climbed 0.80% higher.
Included in the S&P’s overachieving firms are Bank of America, Netflix, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, all of which contributed to a market-wide “lift” that drove yet-to-report stocks higher.
Add to that a highly anticipated Brexit deal – announced Thursday after seven days of exhaustive talks and almost three years of ongoing discussions – and investors have plenty feel optimistic about.
Or do they?
In the Far East, China’s flashing warning signs that something’s amiss in the pseudo-communist nation. Earlier this morning, the country’s statistics bureau reported that gross domestic product (GDP) only grew by 6% last quarter. Analysts predicted 6.1% growth.
China reported 6.2% growth in Q2 of this year, suggesting that their economy is grinding down to a halt. It all started back in Q1 2018, when China’s GDP growth was reportedly 6.8% – a much higher figure, but well below analyst estimates.
And it was almost entirely brought about by the trade war.
