Markets mixed as hope of US-China trade deal offset by lowered US GDP growth

Markets were mixed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 slipped 0.1 percent and the Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.6 percent.

Reports of unprecedented proposals by China to resolve its trade dispute with the US were offset by the final reading of US fourth quarter GDP growth, which was lowered to a 2.2 percent rate from a previously-estimated 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, Ryan Nauman, market strategist with Informa Financial Intelligence, said that “a trade deal is mostly baked into the prices, which is a bit scary because the longer this drags on without a concrete deal, it will create growing angst”.

Regarding the GDP number, Mike Loewengart, vice president of investment strategy at E-Trade Financial Corp., said that while it may be seen as confirming that the economy is headed to the end of the business cycle, “there are a fair amount of positive indicators out there...to pump some confidence back into the market”.