Fresh Trade Talks Spur Relief Bounce in Global Stocks

Thursday,   16-Aug-2018   04:20 PM (IST)

Global stocks were mostly higher, following the positive overnight developments between the U.S. and China on the trade front.Asian shares ended mostly lower, but pared some of the steeper losses seen earlier amid easing fears of a trade war. The Shanghai Composite Index closed down around 0.6%, having earlier fallen by as much as 1.9%.In Europe, nearly all of the region's major bourses were trading higher, with the exception of Italy, as appetite for riskier assets improved on hopes of a trade war thaw.Italy's FTSE MIB sank 1.6% to its lowest level since April 2017 as shares in motorway operator Atlantia plunged 25% following the deadly collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa earlier this week. On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures were higher, suggesting a rebound from the previous session’s sharp decline.The blue-chip Dow futures indicated a gain of 105 points, or around 0.4%,the S&P 500 futures rose 11 points, or around 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to an increase of 42 points, or roughly 0.6%.Major indexes fell sharply on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest percentage drop since late June.