- Uncertainty surrounding US-China trade talks continues to weigh on markets
- US markets open to a feeble start
- Target reports impressive Q4 2018 results
The US stocks opened to a tepid start on Tuesday morning with US-China trade skirmish talks weighing on the strong gains reported by Target, reports CNBC, March 5, 2019.
Markets Weighed Down by US-China Trade Tensions
According to the report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 18 points on the back of fall in the price of 3M shares by 1 percent. A mixed trade was also observed in the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite.
Hopes were high coming into this week regarding the resolution of US-China trade tension. On Monday, March 4, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he thought the two superpowers were “on the cusp” of finally agreeing to settle the long-stretched trade talks. Unfortunately enough, there doesn’t seem to be any indication of that happening soon.
Pompeo said:
“We’re trying to get that rectified, get that fixed, make it fair and reciprocal and I think we’re on the cusp of doing that and I hope all those tariffs will go away, all those barriers.”
The statement by Pompeo came after sources told CNBC that US-China trade negotiations are in the “final stage” of settlement. The source added that one could expect the confrontation to end by the end of March 2019.
However, Monday had an altogether different story to tell the market players, as equity shares of virtually all the companies took a dip south of the radar. Market participants, assuming that the deal had been fully priced into the market gave the window of opportunity to the bears to drag the S&P 500 below the vital 2,800 level.
Target Outperforms Market
A silver lining came on Tuesday in the form of exceptional Q4 2018 results of retailer Target. The retail chain’s digital sales surged more than 25 percent despite a fall in net income by 26.5 percent.
Unsurprisingly enough, the shares of the company rose as much as 6 percent during premarket trade on Tuesday morning.
It’s worth highlighting that the number of overall transactions at Target climbed by 5.3 percent during Q4 2018, against 3.6 surge in the year-ago quarter.
