US markets forged higher yesterday following strong results from tech giants Microsoft and Meta that helped offset lingering economic worries.
Apple reported first quarter (Q1) profit above expectations but warned that US tariffs could cost the company and were disrupting its supply chain.
Amazon reported a 9% rise in Q1 revenue, but its outlook fell as the potential impact from the US-China trade war rattled investors.
Washington’s punishing levies reached 145% on many Chinese products in April, while Beijing has responded with fresh 125% duties on imports from the US.
Today, China’s commerce ministry said it was evaluating a US offer for negotiations on tariffs, but wanted Washington to show “sincerity” and be ready to scrap levies that have roiled global markets and supply chains.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs, and this week said he believed there was a “very good chance we’re going to make a deal”.
Dozens of countries face a 90-day deadline expiring in July to strike an agreement with Washington and avoid higher, country-specific rates.
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said Beijing and Washington were now “waving detente flags” in their spiralling trade war.
“Beijing’s demand for sincerity was an apparent call to ditch the 145% rate, before holding serious talks,” Innes said in a note today.
“But dig a layer deeper, and the path is still littered with landmines,” he added.
In Asia trading today, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up more than 1% in the morning, while Japan’s main Nikkei index gained about 0.6%.
Japan’s envoy for US tariff talks said in Washington yesterday that a second round of negotiations between the two countries had been “frank and constructive”.
Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10% baseline tariffs imposed on most nations plus steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminium.
The Bank of Japan warned earlier that tariffs were fuelling global economic uncertainty and revised down its growth forecasts while keeping its key interest rate steady.
Traders are looking ahead to April’s US jobs data today for indications of the US central bank’s path for interest rates.