China said its trade officials will travel to Washington for talks with U.S. counterparts, following a telephone call between Vice Premier Liu He with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Lower-level officials will have “serious” discussions this month to prepare for the talks, which had originally been expected to take place in September.
Wednesday’s climb in the S&P 500 had already brought the benchmark back to within 3% of an all-time high. Still to come this week are remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Friday’s U.S. jobs report, amid expectations of further monetary easing this month.
“Rather than be scared away from the markets because of this volatility, it’s time to take advantage of that,” Ann Miletti, portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management, told Bloomberg TV. “I’m going to hold the Fed to their word and hopefully they will take timely action.”
Hong Kong stocks lagged behind the rest of the region after soaring almost 4% Wednesday after Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, formally withdrew legislation that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. Chinese stocks had climbed at the open Thursday following news that the State Council called for a reduction in the amount of funds banks have to hold in reserve.
Elsewhere, oil pushed above $56 a barrel. In the U.S., with Florida orange groves seemingly escaping major damage from Hurricane Dorian, concern now turns to soy, corn and cotton fields as well as livestock in Georgia and the Carolinas as the storm churns northward. Platinum futures surged above $1,000 an ounce.
Here are some key events coming up:
- Fed speakers this week include Fed chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
- The U.S. jobs report on Friday is projected to show the widely watched nonfarm payrolls rose by 160,000 in August, versus 164,000 the month prior. Estimates are for unemployment to be steady at 3.7% and the average hourly earnings rate of increase to slow to 3.0%.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.2% as of 11:15 a.m. Hong Kong time after rising 0.9% Wednesday.
- Japan’s Topix index rose 2.1%.
- The Shanghai Composite Index added 1.5%.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3%.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.8%.
- South Korea’s Kospi index rose 1.2%.
- Futures on the S&P 500 Index added 1.1%.
Currencies
- The yen fell 0.2% to 106.64 per dollar.
- The offshore yuan rose 0.2% to 7.1320 per dollar.
- The euro bought $1.1030.
- The British pound was at $1.2244.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose five basis points to 1.51%.
- Australia’s 10-year yield rose six basis points to 0.97%.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.2% to $56.39 a barrel.
- Gold fell 0.5% to $1,544.45 an ounce.