PwC U.S. Chairman Tim Ryan discusses intellectual property theft in China trade deals, the market’s desire for trade certainty, and his company’s $500 million annual investment in their employees as well as his optimism about the U.S. economy.
U.S. equity futures were pointing to a higher open on Friday when Wall Street begins trading.
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The three futures indexes are indicating an increase of 0.3 percent.
White House officials said China and the U.S. were getting close to an agreement to cool tensions over trade.
On Thursday, Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro said in comments to Fox TV that the two sides were “on a glide path” toward agreement.
“We’re going to get a great deal,” he said when asked about comments by Chinese officials who said Beijing expects the U.S. side to gradually roll back some of the billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs imposed on Chinese exports by President Trump in an effort to get China to change its trade and technology policies.
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Trump’s economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, likewise reportedly said Thursday the two sides were close to a deal.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 27781.96 | -1.63 | -0.01% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3096.63 | +2.59 | +0.08% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 8479.017137 | -3.08 | -0.04% |
That was good enough for investors gauging the prevailing winds a month after the two sides announced they were working on a Phase 1 agreement that would be followed by more complex negotiations.
In Asian markets on Friday, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.7 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.2 percent, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 percent.
Hong Kong confirmed on Friday it plunged into recession for the first time in a decade following months of anti-government protests and the U.S.-China trade war.
Third quarter figures showed the economy shrank by 3.2 percent from the preceding period.
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That makes it a second straight quarter of contraction, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
