U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to put fresh tariffs on Chinese imports immediately if Chinese President Xi Jinping does not attend the G-20 summit that is scheduled for the end of this month. This is not the first time that Trump has threatened new tariffs- just last month he threatened to put tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods if a trade deal was not reached “soon.” China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that it is prepared for more trade negotiations, though no specific dates for the next negotiations have been publicized.
Gold prices headed higher after slumping significantly on Monday as trader optimism about a trade deal once again waned and the safe-haven became a go-to asset. Futures for the precious metal was up 0.26 percent as of 1:11 p.m. HK/SIN, to $1,332.90.
Stock Markets Continue Climb
Global stock markets soared on Monday after an announcement that Washington would not slap tariffs on Mexican imports as it had threatened, and the positive sentiment extended into Tuesday’s trading session. Asian benchmarks were broadly higher with Chinese indexes leading the way. The Shenzhen Composite soared 2.82 percent by the early afternoon and the Shanghai Composite was up 1.87 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was a 0.76 percent rise and Australia’s ASX 200 was up 1.45 percent. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.49 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.29 percent.
Also boosting stock markets were reports out of the U.S. that unemployment remains at historically low levels even though there was a slight increase in layoffs in recent months. All three Wall Street benchmark indexes closed higher on Monday after surging on Friday. The NASDAQ led the charge with a close up of 1.05 percent. The S&P 500 closed up 0.47 percent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.30 percent for the day.