Morgans AM - Monday, 12 May 2025

A relatively muted end to the week for US equity markets following two-days of gains as investors braced for news from highly anticipated trade talks that are scheduled for this weekend in Switzerland between U.S. and Chinese officials - Dow eased -119-points or -0.29% U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said “substantial progress” had been made in the weekend trade negotiations between US and China trade officials, adding that the Trump administration “will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive.” In the same statement, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer agreed that it was “a very constructive two days. It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought.” China’s delegation later described the weekend meetings as “candid, in-depth and constructive dialogue,” and said a joint statement would be issued Monday (12 May). No specific details of possible points of agreement were revealed by either side. On Friday (9 May), Trump floated the idea of bringing down China’s tariff rate to 80%.