Market Brief, North America

The US dollar looks set to snap a three-day losing streak and stock market futures are climbing ahead of the North American open after Beijing and Washington said trade talks between China and the United States are set to begin this weekend. According to statements released by both governments, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Switzerland, marking the first confirmed high-level contact between the two sides since late January – and the first formal discussion since President Trump imposed 145-percent tariffs on imports from China. Based on...

Markets are rallying this morning on optimism surrounding the prospect of more easing from the Federal Reserve as well as the growing likelihood of trade “deals” between the United States and its partners. Yields are down across the curve as investors bet a slowing economy could give central bankers more room to cut rates and equity indices are climbing in line with hopeful statements from administration officials currently negotiating agreements with Japan, India, and other countries. The dollar is up sharply. Data published yesterday overstated the scale of the downturn in the US economy. A massive jump in the trade...

A six-day improvement in risk appetite appears to be stalling out across the financial markets this morning, bolstering a “mean-reversion”* trade that has seen the dollar creep higher against most of its rivals through the early part of the week. Treasury yields are ticking higher, North American equity indices are poised for losses at the open, and safe-haven currencies are outperforming their risk-sensitive brethren. The American economy shrank for the first time since 2022 in the first quarter, but the slowdown wasn’t as profound as the headline number would suggest. Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product contracted at an annualised -0.3-percent pace...