Stocks Stabilize as U.S.-China Trade War Enters New Stage - The New York Times

Financial markets showed signs of stabilizing on Tuesday, one day after China’s retaliatory tariffs against imports from the United States rattled Wall Street.

Still, public comments from Beijing suggested that the uncertainty was far from over.

Asian markets fell broadly but more modestly on Tuesday than those on Wall Street did the day before. European markets opened slightly higher. Futures markets were indicating that Wall Street would open higher after the 2.4 percent decline on Monday.

Beijing announced plans on Monday to raise tariffs on nearly $60 billion a year of American-made goods, a move that followed the United States’ raising tariffs on $200 billion a year of imports from China. The dueling tariff increases will not hit the global economy right away, as they will not come into full force for several weeks. President Trump said on Monday that he would meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, next month in Japan.

The prospects of striking a deal in that meeting were not clear. On Tuesday, the Chinese government reaffirmed its stance.

“China does not want or wish for a trade war, but it is by no means afraid of one,” Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a daily news briefing. “If someone brings the war to our doorstep, we will fight it to the end,” he added.

After opening higher, the CAC 40 in France was up 0.9 percent by late morning. The Dax in Germany had risen 0.4 percent by the same time. In London, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.8 percent.

Hong Kong, which was closed on Monday for a holiday, led the declines in Asia. The Hang Seng Index lost 1.5 percent.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen Composite Index both fell 0.7 percent, while Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 0.6 percent.

South Korea bucked the regional trend, with the Kospi rising 0.14 percent.

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