Stocks Hold Steady as Trump-Xi Talks Deliver Truce: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — US stock futures held steady after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping ended their trade meeting with a range of expected concessions, keeping markets near record highs.

Contracts for the S&P 500 were little changed after the US President said he had an “amazing meeting” with Xi and would reduce fentanyl-related tariffs. China announced it would suspend rare earth controls for one year and that the US agreed to extend the suspension of reciprocal levies for the same period, among a range of concessions.

A gauge of Asian shares retreated 0.4% after setting a record high Wednesday. Shares in mainland China dipped 0.7% while the Topix index in Japan rose 0.7% after the Bank of Japan held its policy rate. European equities were marginally lower.

“Markets view this as a tactical truce rather than a long-term deal, meaning the medium-term outlook could stay volatile,” said Anna Wu, cross-asset strategist at Van Eck Associates Corp.

Investors were speculating that the US-China meeting would help ease the world’s largest trade dispute and steady markets after months of tension. Since the tariff-fueled meltdown in April, global stocks had rallied to records on optimism about artificial intelligence and policy easing by the Federal Reserve.

The central bank cut its benchmark rate by a quarter point on Wednesday, but cautioned that another reduction in December isn’t a foregone conclusion.

Trump also said he had discussed Chinese access for Nvidia Corp.’s chips but indicated that he won’t offer access to their most advanced Blackwell line.

In other corners of the market, a gauge of the dollar and US Treasuries were little changed. The yen weakened toward the 153 per dollar mark, while gold rose 0.9%

In European news, France’s economy unexpectedly grew at the fastest pace since 2023, allaying concerns it would lose momentum due to a fresh bout of political turmoil.

Earlier, Fed officials delivered their second straight rate reduction Wednesday to support a softening labor market, and said they would stop shrinking the portfolio of assets on Dec. 1. Governor Stephen Miran dissented again in favor of a larger reduction. Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid said he preferred not to cut rates at all.

The European Central Bank is also due to announce its policy decision later Thursday.

The technology sector was once again in focus after Samsung Electronics Co.’s earnings beat estimates, and megacap US companies boosted bets on the artificial intelligence theme.

Three bellwethers – Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — together racked up some $78 billion in capital expenditures last quarter. That’s up 89% from a year earlier.

The earnings of these companies were, however, mixed. Meta Platforms shares retreated 6.8%% in premarket trading while Alphabet jumped 6.5%. Microsoft fell more than 3%.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.1% as of 8:03 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures were little changed Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1619 The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 153.56 per dollar The offshore yuan fell 0.1% to 7.1068 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3201 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $111,320.83 Ether fell 0.3% to $3,938.97 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.08% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.65% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.43% Commodities

Brent crude fell 1% to $64.28 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.9% to $3,965.62 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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