U.S. stocks reach new highs after rumours of 50% cut on Chinese tariffs
U.S. stock indexes jumped to new highs on Thursday, following rumours that the United States has offered to cut existing tariffs on Chinese goods by as much as 50 per cent and suspend new tariffs scheduled to go into effect on Sunday in an attempt to secure a "Phase One" trade deal.
The
Wall Street Journal and
Bloomberg reported that U.S. negotiators have offered to reduce tariffs on about $375 billion US in Chinese goods by 50 per cent across the board, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday, and suspend tariffs on $160 billion US in goods scheduled for Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Twitter Thursday that the U.S. was "very close" to nailing down a deal.

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1205134155853574145
Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!
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9:35 AM - Dec 12, 2019
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The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrials and the Nasdaq opened lower then reversed after Trump's statement, which comes just before tariffs are due to go into effect on Sunday. The indexes had slipped from record levels two weeks ago.
The S&P 500 briefly rose more than one per cent to hit a record intraday high of 3,176.28 and was last up 0.5 per cent. While the MSCI's all-country world index, tracking shares in 49 countries, climbed to 551.84 points to surpass the previous record of 550.63 points set in January 2018.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told senators during a briefing that announcements were possibly "imminent" on U.S. tariffs, Sen. John Cornyn told reporters.
The White House is expected to make an announcement regarding U.S.-China trade later on Thursday.