The dollar was little changed yesterday, but is slightly stronger this morning as the markets look for developments in the US-China trade war. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed issues related to phase one of a trade agreement and agreed to maintain communication on remaining issues. As well as this, a senior advisor to President Trump said that both sides are “getting really close” to striking a phase one deal. However, yesterday, officials said that there was a lower possibility of a ‘phase two’, or more ambitious trade deal, ever being struck, due to the difficulties with phase one.
Data released yesterday showed that the US goods trade deficit narrowed to $66.5 billion in October 2019 from $70.5 billion in the previous month and below market expectations of $71.3 billion. Both imports and exports declined.
Today, we’ll see several data releases for the US, including GDP figures and durable goods orders.
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