U.S. markets had a strong open Monday morning on President Trump's announcement that U.S. and Chinese officials are willing to continue talks in an effort to de-escalate mounting trade tensions.
Speaking from the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Trump said that Chinese negotiators had called U.S. officials and requested a new round of talks. "We'll be getting back to the table. And I think they want to do something," he said. "This is a very positive development for the world."
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, however, said at a press conference Monday that he was not aware of any calls, but that the trade feud should be solved "through dialogue and consultation."
Meanwhile, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said at an economics conference in Chongqing that China favored "calm negotiations" to resolve trade tension. "We resolutely oppose the escalation of the trade war, which is not beneficial for the U.S. or China. It is also not beneficial to the world," Liu said, according to multiple reports citing government transcripts.
By midday, the Dow was up more than 250 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up more than one percent. Yet the news came too late for Asian markets, which had plummeted by close Monday local time.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong and the Shanghai Composite Index ended the day down 1.91 percent and 1.17 percent respectively. The Nikkei in Tokyo closed down 2.17 percent and South Korea's Kospi Index fell 1.6 percent.
On Monday, Trump also repeatedly lauded Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "great leader" and a "brilliant man" — a far cry from the "enemy" characterization that Trump gave Xi last week.
The enduring trade dispute between the U.S. and China, which has both ebbed and surged in recent months, significantly escalated last week. China announced on Friday that it would hit $75 billion worth of U.S. goods with new retaliatory tariffs and proceed with a steep tariff levied on U.S. vehicles and car parts.
In response, Trump announced that the U.S. would hike its 25 percent tariff on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports to 30 percent, and increase the forthcoming 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of goods to 15 percent. Friday's culmination sent U.S. stocks into a nosedive and led to an outcry from industry against the escalation.
Trump added he was confident that Liu's remarks on calm negotiations were sincere and were not a bid to quell market woes. "I think they want to make a deal. I think they should make a deal, and I think if they don't make a deal it will be very bad for China," he said during a press conference with President Emmanuel Macron of France.
At a separate event, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Liu's remarks were "very significant statements" and that the U.S. was communicating with the vice premier, who is China's chief negotiator, through intermediaries.
China, nonetheless, urged the U.S. on Monday not to "miscalculate the situation" and to cease its "erroneous ways."
"China firmly opposes and rejects such stark trade bullying and maximum pressuring tactics," Shuang said. "I would like to remind the U.S. once again that threats and intimidation will never work on China."
In response to a question on the trade uncertainty fueling market volatility, Trump said "Sorry, it's the way I negotiate ... and it has done very well for me over the years."
November's jobs report is tricky: nonfarm payrolls only increased by 210,000, following an October gain of 546,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% - and the labor force participation rate rose 61.8% to its highest level since March 2020. Also of note: the retail sector saw a decline of 20,000 jobs despite what was once a traditional late fall push to hire before the holiday sales rush. What's going on in the labor market, and can we expect more volatile numbers as the omicron variant spreads during the winter months? Adam Ozimek, Chief economist at Upwork, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the mixed jobs report, sector winners and losers, retail's flip-flop, and more.
Chinese regulators are reportedly behind China-based ride-hailing company DiDi exiting from the New York Stock Exchange, just days after listing earlier this year. The regulators stated prior that DiDi had not received the necessary clearances to list in the states. Gordon Chang, Asian affairs expert, joined Cheddar to break down what the delisting says about the relationship between nations. "This really strikes me as an attempt to really to force a decoupling of China and the U.S. in the financial markets," Chang said.
Hologram communication platform maker PORTL is looking to take communication to the next level. Founder and CEO David Nussbaum joined Cheddar to talk about the company's recent $12 million Series A funding round that will be used to bring the concept of holoportation to market. Nussbaum noted his hologram technology is just not comparable to augmented reality or virtual metaverses because the image projection is happening in real-time and in actual reality. "Well, unlike VR or AR, we're 'R.' We're real. You don't need a headset. You don't need wearables. You don't need to download anything. It's incredible," he said.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales stopped by Cheddar's "Between Bells" to talk about his Birth of Wikipedia auction at Christie's putting two items linked to the origins of Wikipedia up for sale. On the auction block are his original strawberry iMac that was used to create the long-running online encyclopedia and what Wales described as an interactive NFT of his first Wikipedia edit rather than a static image. "Once it's been sold, the owner can turn it on, and anyone can edit the page and it will be reflected in the NFT," he said.
On this episode of Your Future Home, Carmine Satabella, Interior Designer & Television Host, joins to break down how to get the most out of your winter decor this year and basic kitchen fundamentals that go a long way; Max Child, CEO and co-founder of Volley, discusses the rise of voice games and how tech is continuing to change smart homes; Cheddar breaks down everything you need to know about how to start flipping homes.
China-based DiDi is delisting from the New York Stock Exchange after Chinese officials reportedly asked the ride-hailing company to do so. It will instead list on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
U.S. Futures were pointing to a higher open to round out the week despite a miss on the November Jobs Report, which showed slower job growth than expected-- and as the omicron variant continues to spread across the country. Patrick Healey, Founder & President at Caliber Financial Partners joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
It's a mixed bag for the November jobs report. Hiring slowed last month as employers only added 210,000 jobs, massively missing the estimate of 550,000. But there was one bright spot: the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, with the number of unemployed people dropping to 6.9 million. Both of those numbers are considerably down from their highs at the end of the 2020 recession. Heather Boushey, a member of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, joined Cheddar to discuss the report and the state of the country's ongoing economic recovery.
