Global shares extended losses on Thursday as investor sentiment keeps being weighed down by mixed developments on the trade deal between US and China. Chinese Vice Premier Liu said last night he was optimistic about a phase one deal with the US, but he also mentioned that confusion remained about US demands. This mixed tone has also been underlined on the US side when President Trump said he doesn’t think China is stepping up to the level he wants in these negotiations and that Beijing wants a deal more than he does. Market sentiment is now slowly getting dented, especially after multiple reports from sources close to the White House said a phase-one trade deal may not be reached before 2020.
Photo by Joseph Chan.
In addition, investors have started their trading session very cautiously as President Trump is expected to sign legislation backing protesters in HongKong, a move that is likely to make the US-China negotiations a lot more complicated. All sectors are trading in negative territory this morning, with the biggest losses being reported by the OMX-30 index in Stockholm and the FTSE-MIB in Italy.
