China packs up and goes home
That doesn't sound good. Stocks drop hard, USD/JPY too.
The Montana Farm Bureau says China's delegation has cancelled a planned trip to view US agriculture. Chinese officials will return to Beijing sooner than expected.
This could simply be a scheduling mixup but the market is taking it as a sign that trade talks over the past two days in Washington didn't go so well. Montana is basically right in the flight path from Washington to Beijing so it wasn't much of a detour and it was where there were supposed to talk further on agriculture.
The S&P 500 is down 20 points to 2986, gold is up $10 and USD/JPY is at the lows of the day at 107.67.
So far there is no news on what's behind this cancellation. If it's a sign that trade talks have soured, then this drop would be just the tip of the iceberg.
A short time ago, Trump said he would not accept a 'partial deal' on trade. That may have been a hint about what happened.
"I am not looking for a partial deal. I am looking for a complete deal,"Trump said during a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He added that it would not be enough for China to buy more agricultural products.
