Kudlow comments fail to lift markets

Joshua Mahony MSTA Scope Markets

US markets are following their European counterparts lower amid a mixed growth figure. Meanwhile Kudlow has attempted to raise market optimism over US-China trade talks.

FTSE 100 declines yet again
US GDP reading fails to lift US stocks
Bullish Kudlow raises trade talk hopes

The FTSE 100 is on the back foot yet again today, with the recent resurgence in the pound continuing to dent market sentiment despite a slight decline for GBPUSD over the course of the day. If Chinese negotiators needed any reminder on the importance of ongoing trade talks, today’s further decline in Chinese manufacturing provided exactly that, dragging the yuan and Australian dollar with it. A respectable US GDP reading of 2.6% did little to lift US stocks in early trade, with the better-than-expected figure still highlighting a slowdown for the US economic growth.

While market sentiment has been on the wane this week, Larry Kudlow has given traders every reason to feel bullish about the outlook going forward. While the chief negotiator Robert Lighthizer quelling optimism over an impending trade deal, Economic Council Director Kudlow has done quite the opposite, citing the terrific progress being made throughout the course of last week. In all likeliness the truth is somewhere between Kudlow and Lighthizer’s accounts, and with China unlikely to cede ground on issues such as intellectual property rights too easily, it is likely that the final hurdles are some of the hardest to resolve. With Trump having walked away from talks with Kim Jong-Un, there is
no doubt a message for the Chinese that he will walk away from trade negotiations too if they do not progress as planned.

Author

Joshua Mahony MSTA

Scope Markets

Joshua Mahony is Chief Markets Analyst at Scope Markets. Joshua has a particular focus on macro-economics and technical analysis, built up over his 11 years of experience as a market analyst across three brokers.

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