US Earnings Season Underway, but Wall Street More Concerned About the Trade War

Trade tensions continue to dominate the sentiment in global financial markets even after the US and China resumed their negotiations. With no updates from either side on the progress made so far and Trump’s recent comments hinting at plans to impose tariffs on additional Chinese imports worth over $300 billion, the trade war seems to be on everyone’s minds, again.

The earnings season has started in the US, but Wall Street stocks closed in the red over trade concerns. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal published a story about how US-China trade talks have stalled over the issue of the ban on Huawei, souring the sentiment in stock markets.

As a result, DOW closed 0.42% lower, while SPX fell by 0.65%. Even though 85% of the S&P 500 companies that have published their EPS reports so far have posted profits exceeding expectations, markets remain concerned about the trade war dragging on, which could heavily impact consumer and business sentiment.