While that might have assuaged trade war fears, certain elements of the apparent truce still remain unclear for now. Thanks to the phase one agreement, China held off tariffs that were scheduled for Sunday on US goods.The US also withdrew from its prior plan of slapping 15% tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese imports by Sunday.  Reuters reported that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters that China would buy at least $16 billion more agricultural goods in each of the next two years,  adding to the 2017 baseline of $24 billion.

The year-over-year wage growth rate came in at + 3.1%, above analysts’ forecasts of +3%. The latest jobs reports potentially spells hope amid uncertainties related to US-China trade relations, slowing business fixed investment and weakening manufacturing output of recent times. Manufacturing sector added 54,000 positions in November, out of which 41,000 were in auto manufacturing.General Motors workers, who came back from their October strike, helped in boosting job gains. U.S.

Just a day after reports surfaced of U.S. administrators considering delisting some Chinese firms from U.S. stock exchanges, a U.S. Treasury official said that there are no such plans currently. Citing  people familiar with and the matter, a Bloomberg report indicated on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is pondering ways to limit U.S. investors’ portfolio flows to China, including delisting of Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges, putting a lid on Americans’ government pension funds exposure to China, and capping the Chinese companies included in stock indexes managed by U.S. firms. Responding to the same, Treasury spokeswoman Monica Crowley said that the administration is not  planning on blocking Chinese companies from listing shares on U.S. stock exchanges at this time. According to Bloomberg’s Friday report (citing people familiar with the matter), administration officials for weeks have been considering their options, and Treasury has be

On Sunday, the U.S. kicked off its latest round of tariff on China goods. The U.S.is  imposing 15% tariff rate on a range of imports from China, including footwear, smart watches and flat-panel televisions  - which are largely consumer goods.As part of this fresh round of levies, tariffs on $112 billion worth of Chinese goods have already been slapped on Sunday, with plans to impose duties on another $160 billion in mid-December. The tariffs prior to Sunday’s announcement were more focused on intermediate inputs like industrial components. According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, 91.6% of Chinese apparel imports will be affected by the new round of tariffs, while 68.4% of home textiles and 52.5% of footwear would be hit as well. The remainder of the tariffs on China, planned for December, are expected to include cell phones and laptops as well. However, U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that U.S. negotiations/talks with China are still und

President Donald Trump had threatened earlier this month that a new round of 10% tariffs could be slapped on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.But Tuesday’s announcement could potentially assuage concerns on trade war intensity, atleast as of now. Trump said Tuesday that his decision to delay tariffs  was to mitigate an impact on holiday shopping.

  A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that Chinese companies have stopped purchasing U.S. agricultural products in response to U.S. President Trump’s latest  10% tariffs on additional $300 billion of Chinese goods. The department also indicated it would “not rule out” tariffs on newly bought agricultural goods after August 3. Previously, Trump had said that he had secured a large amount of agricultural purchases after meeting with China President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in June.But later, Trump alleged that China is not staying true to the agreement,  and then he announced on Thursday the 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports. China accounted for $5.6 billion in U.S. farm product exports in 2018, according to the U.S. Census.

The IMF further said, "Risks to the forecast are mainly to the downside". The organization cut its forecast of China’s economic growth to 6.2%, which is  -0.1 a percentage point lower than the April forecast. However, the IMF increased its projection for U.S. growth by 0.3 a percentage point to 2.6% - the fastest among large advanced economies.IMF’s latest forecasts come amidst expectations of a U.S. policy interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

excluding food and energy, rose 0.3% in June - the largest increase since January 2018.On  a year-over-year basis, the core index rose 2.1%.

Stocks jumped to record highs Wednesday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments seemed to strengthen expectations for monetary policy easing. The latest minutes released from Federal Open Market Committee indicate their perception of trade uncertainty posing risks to their economic growth and inflation projections.Powell's comments indicate that trade tensions and concerns about the global economy have challenged the policymakers' outlook on the U.S. economy.

US job gains bounced back in June, with employers adding 224,000 jobs, according to Labor Department data released Friday. The job additions surpassed economists' forecasts of a gain of about 160,000.This is a clear improvement from last month's report, which showed job gains of 75,000 in May, well below expectations of 165,000. Professional services sector led the way with 51,000 job additions in June, while health-care providers added 35,000 jobs and transportation and warehouse companies added 24,000.  Construction companies hired 21,000 workers and manufacturers added 17,000 jobs. Retail sector, however, shed another 6,000 jobs. The U.S. unemployment rate for June, however, increased slightly to 3.7% from 3.6%.

jobs growth improved in June, albeit at a slower pace than economists had expected, based on a report from payroll firm Automatic Data Processing (ADP). Private employers added 102,000 jobs in June, according to ADP.The figure is lower than the 140,000 job gains expected by economists polled by FactSet. Nevertheless, June job additions still are a significantly better than May’s 41,000 job gains. Service industries contributed most of the the job growth in June, adding 117,000 positions.

Wilmington Trust’s chief economist believes the market rally’s foundation is on shaky ground. With the S&P 500 seeing its best June since 1955, Luke Tilley warns that investors are getting excessively optimistic on U.S.-China trade talks and Federal Reserve policy.

Barclays believes a market “melt-up” could be on the horizon if three things materialize in the near future: A trade truce,  Federal Reserve rate cuts and the economic slowdown only being a soft patch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 256 points at the open, led by Caterpillar and Exxon Mobil.The Dow was also within 1% of its record high, while the Nasdaq remained 1.3%.

Two of the world’s most influential economic leaders have warned that there are troubling developments arising from increased trade barriers and tariffs. Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the global trade dispute between the U.S. and China as well as a threatened dispute with Europe and other industrial nations could cause headwinds for all and could get worse.

China will not allow the U.S. to interfere in its legislative process and economic policies, but it seems to be showing a readiness to keep its sales in American markets on a steep and steady downward path. According to data released June 6 by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Chinese goods exports to the U.S. in the first four months of this year declined 12.8% from the same period of 2018, driving the trade surplus down 10%.

mortgage applications moved higher last week, led by a jump in requests for refinancing, as home borrowing costs fell to their lowest levels in nearly 17 months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday. The Association's seasonally adjusted index on loan requests to buy a home and to refinance one rose 1.5% to 417.8 in the week ended May 31.  Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate “conforming” mortgages or loans whose balances are $484,350 or less decreased to 4.23%, which was the lowest since January 2018.A week ago, they averaged 4.33%.

U.S.job growth slowed sharply in May and wages rose less than expected, raising fears that a loss of momentum in economic activity could be spreading to the labor market, which could put pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year.

A dovish Federal Reserve can use tools such as rate cuts to lessen the damage of America’s tariff skirmishes with China and Mexico, but it is either limited in its effectiveness or in its motivations, two economists told CNBC on Thursday.

There’s still a chance that the U.S. and China could reach a trade deal by the end of this year, but that won’t be enough to cause investors to cheer, according to an investment expert from BlackRock. Isabelle Mateos y Lago, deputy head of BlackRock’s Official Institutions Group, said Friday that any trade deal between Washington and Beijing will likely be “narrow.” That means the deal won’t likely resolve all the tensions between the two countries, she explained.