LONDON: European and US stocks pivoted higher on Thursday as President Donald Trump stoked investor optimism over talks to end the US-China trade war.
Discussions between US and Chinese officials to find a way out of an impasse that has seen the world’s top two economies impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of goods and imperil global growth have fuelled gains in recent days.
But the lack of substantive information at the end of the three days of talks gave investors the jitters, and stocks pulled back in Asia, as well as most of the European trading and at the open on Wall Street.
However fresh comments by the US president helped bring about a return of optimism, said market analyst Joshua Mahony at online trading firm IG.
“Trump’s claim that the US is having ‘tremendous success’ in talks with China should be taken with a pinch of salt, yet to some extent the fact that talks have sustained this long without breaking down highlights a shift in tactics by both sides,” he said in a note to clients.
Stocks picked off their lows, with most leading US and European indices moving into positive territory, at least temporarily.
In Europe, London finished the day up 0.5 percent, followed by Frankfurt with a gain of 0.3 percent. Paris closed 0.2 percent lower, after having traded considerably lower during the afternoon.