Today we got a long list of economic reports from China. Trade data was surprised investors by beating the forecasts - exports decreased by only 0.9%, while imports declined by 6.9%. Though this still means China’s trade surplus is dropping, in September it decreased less dramatically. This is good news for China and explains why the country is so eager to push the United States to cancel trade tariffs in the upcoming phase one agreement.
September also turned out to be a good month for the European Union. German exports grew more than expected this month, as did the industrial production in France, where we also saw a healthy job growth in September. The good news from Europe’s two most powerful economies was enough to reassure investors that at least for now the threat of a recession has been averted.
In other news, stocks were a bit low, in part due to the positive economic reports which captivated investors today. The US markets marked losses or remained neutral, while Treasury yields are rising. By far the biggest winner on the markets is Disney, who is building a service to rival Netflix and is a promising company to invest in.
