US markets end lower amid renewed uncertainty about trade deal

21 Nov 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday amid renewed uncertainty about a US-China trade deal after a private report said trade talks are in danger of hitting an impasse. Citing former administration officials and others following the talks, report said the potential impasse threatens to derail the Trump administration's plan for a limited phase one deal this year. It said both sides remain divided over core issues, including China's demand for removing tariffs and the US's insistence on China buying farm products. The report comes after President Donald Trump threatening higher tariffs on Chinese goods if an agreement is not reached. Meanwhile, minutes from the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting held in late October were released but did not provide much further insight into the outlook for interest rates.

Interest rates are already widely expected to remain unchanged in the near future after the Fed's statement and congressional testimony by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The minutes said the decision to remove the act as appropriate language from the statement was seen as consistent with the view that the current stance of monetary policy was likely to remain appropriate as long as the economy performed broadly in line with the Fed’s expectations. The Fed also reiterated that policy is not on a preset course and could change if developments emerged that led to a material reassessment of the economic outlook. Reiterating the assessment in the Fed's statement, the minutes said members noted that information received since the September meeting indicated that the labor market remained strong and that economic activity had been rising at a moderate rate.

Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 112.93 points or 0.40 percent to 27821.09, Nasdaq fell 43.93 points or 0.51 percent to 8526.73 and S&P 500 was down by 11.72 points or 0.38 percent to 3108.46.

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