| schema:articleBody
| - Equities rebounded a bit on Tuesday while safe-haven gold slipped back as fears of a Middle East conflict abated and investors turned their attention back to US-China trade issues. With few major developments in the crisis sparked by the killing of Qasem Soleimani last week, traders were able to focus on the global economic outlook and the US-China trade deal signing planned for January 15. "In the eyes of investors, the US-China trade deal is more important than the US-Iran conflict," summed up Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at Forex.com. In afternoon European trading, the stock indices in London and Paris were down by less than 0.1 percent while Frankfurt had gained 0.5 percent. Asian markets had been broadly higher earlier in the day, with Tokyo ending 1.6 percent up, Hong Kong adding 0.3 percent and Shanghai rising 0.7 percent. On oil markets, "prices have settled a little as traders regain a little composure," noted Craig Erlam at Oanda. Gold slipped from six-and-a-half-year highs. "Putting to one side the heat and noise of the events of the last few days, and in the absence of further violence and escalations, the reality is that very little has changed," said CMC Market analyst Michael Hewson. "It's wait-and-see mode here," said Steve Chiavarone, at Federated Investors. "How much, if at all, do things escalate with Iran and does it ultimately impact the global economic outlook? Right now, not so much. Could it change? Sure." Meanwhile, a drop in imports cut the US trade deficit in November and put the country on track to post its first annual decline in six years, Commerce Department data showed. The trade gap -- the difference between what the United States buys from and sells to international trading partners -- fell by 8.2 percent in November to $43.1 billion, lower than economists had expected and the lowest since October 2016. With the drop likely to be trumpeted by the US administration as vindication of its hard line with China, "other countries are likely to be nervous that they could soon find themselves in the president's cross hairs," commented James Knightley at the Dutch bank ING. London - FTSE 100: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 7,571.12 points Paris - CAC 40: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 6,009.56 Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.5 percent at 13,188.01 EURO STOXX 50: UP less than 0.1 percent at 3,754.21 New York - Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 28,607.48 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 23,575.72 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.3 percent at 28,322.06 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,104.80 (close) West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.1 percent at $62.59 per barrel Brent Crude: DOWN 1.2 percent at $68.12 Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3120 from $1.3171 at 2200 GMT Euro/pound: UP at 85.08 pence from 85.01 pence Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1156 from $1.1197 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.35 from 108.37 yen burs-wai/jh
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)