U.S. equity indexes traded mixed on Tuesday despite a Wall Street Journal report that the White House will delay planned tariffs on Chinese goods, which were scheduled go in effect on Dec. 15, as both sides keep working toward a phase-one trade deal.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.26 points to 27,897.34 while the S&P 500 edged up 0.38 points to 3,136.34 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 11.51 points to 8,633.33.

The Wall Street journal reported Tuesday U.S. and Chinese trade officials are “laying the groundwork for a delay” of tariffs of 15% that were set to be imposed on $156 billion of goods imported from China.

The South China Morning Post reported Tuesday it is "growing increasingly unlikely that a U.S.-China trade deal will be completed this week,” though officials also said the Dec. 15 tariffs will be delayed.

“The idea that we have a relatively calmer period of time in the U.S.-China trade tensions is obviously very important,” Ben Powell, BlackRock Investment Institute’s chief Asia-Pacific strategist, said. “This is just a temporary period of relative calm,” he said. “The tensions between the U.S. and China are structural and persistent.”

On Monday night, at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council meeting in Washington, White House adviser Jared Kushner said trade talks between the U.S. and China are “heading in a good direction.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday morning that Democrat lawmakers reached an agreement with the White House on a revised U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. The deal provides for stronger labor enforcement rules and environmental protections.

Traders are also bracing for monetary policy decisions and commentary from Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.

The National Federation of Independent Business optimism index climbed by 2.3 points in November to 104.7, a four-month high.

A final estimate of U.S. productivity and labor costs in the third quarter showed productivity fell 0.2% while unit labor costs climbed 2.5%.

The consumer-price index in China climbed by 4.5% in November to its highest level in almost eight years, driven mostly by surging food prices., the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

Britain’s Office for National Statistics said the economy was flat in October, after two months of declines, denoting the weakest three-month period since early 2009.

In the August-to-October period, manufacturing fell by 0.7% contraction while construction dropped 0.3%.

John Hawksworth, chief economist at consultancy PwC, said: "Growth seems likely to remain subdued through the rest of 2019, but we would hope for a gradual revival in activity over the course of 2020 if current political and economic uncertainties ease. Our main scenario is for 1% [gross domestic product] growth in 2020 assuming an orderly Brexit."

Morgan Stanley (MS) plans to cut 1,500 jobs, or about 2% of its global workforce, Bloomberg reported.

Overnight in Asia, markets finished mixed. The Hang Seng fell 0.22% while Japan’s Nikkei-225 slipped 0.09% and China’s Shanghai Composite advanced 0.1%

European markets closed mixed with the FTSE 100 down 0.28% while Germany's DAX slipped 0.27% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.18%

Crude oil futures rose 0.32% to $59.21 per barrel and Brent crude gained 0.11% at $64.32. Gold futures rose 0.23%.

The euro gained 0.2% to $1.1088 while the pound sterling edged up 0.27% at $1.318.

RELATED STORIES
China