The Dow Jumped 669 Points Yesterday, and Continues Gaining 200+ Today

Stocks had lost a lot of value due to fears of a trade-war, but yesterday clawed back more than half of the last week's losses. And today's adding more back.

The Dow notched its best daily point gain since October 2008 on Monday as fears of tightening global trade restrictions eased and the blue-chip index rebounded from its worst week in two years.

Wall Street appears to be lowering the odds of an all-out trade war. Signs have emerged that China and the U.S. are in negotiations to work through their trade differences and avoid a prolonged fight that could harm the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 669.40 points, or 2.8%, to close at 24,203. It was a broad advance on Wall Street with the Standard & Poor's 500 rising 2.7% and the technology dominated Nasdaq jumping 3.3%.

I guess the liberal media was praying for big losses today. Shep Smith was probably turgid at the prospect. But they're disappointed.

Stocks peered over the edge and decided that they weren't going to drop, at least not yet. The S&P 500 has risen 0.6% to 2674.13, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 242.91 points, or 1%, to 24,445.51. The Nasdaq Composite has advanced 0.2% to 7,236.83.

China is, get this, bowing to pressure and proposing a host of concessions to avoid the tariffs Trump has imposed. So it appears that in trade as in diplomacy, sometimes a firm stance can compel a favorable result. Surprisingly enough.

South Korea is also offering concessions.

President Trump's aggressive trade policies are forcing some tough customers to cut new deals, with China talking about opening its market to U.S. companies and South Korea nearing a deal to reduce steel exports and buy more American cars.

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Mr. Trump cheered the turnaround on Twitter: "Great news! #MAGA."

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Mr. Trump last week socked China with up to $60 billion in tariffs on high-tech imports, investment restrictions and plans for a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization.

The beefed-up “America first” policies crack down on what the president calls China's unfair trade practices and theft of intellectual property.

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"We're not afraid of a trade war, but that's not our objective," Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday." "In a negotiation, you have to be prepared to take action."

Strongly disagreeing with that notion: The Republican "leadership" on budget negotiations.

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Other concessions by South Korea include not reimposing a tariff on cars that Seoul has lifted, relaxing Korean safety standards that U.S. cars didn’t meet and upping the number of U.S. cars allowed from 25,0000 to 50,000.

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China has offered to buy more U.S. semiconductors by diverting some purchases from South Korea and Taiwan, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the negotiations.

Two other important concessions by China are opening the country to outside financial services company, and -- I can't believe this has been allowed until now -- no longer demanding that companies turn over their intellectual property to China as the price of doing business in China.

A bit of caution: China makes a lot of promises it immediately ignores.

posted by Ace of Spades at 01:47 PM

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