COLUMN-The Trump who tweeted wolf: commodities wary of U.S.-China trade news – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – July 1, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, July 1 (Reuters) – Have commodity markets reached the point where they are ignoring the tweets and rhetoric on U.S.-China trade talks, and are instead waiting for some concrete developments?

Certainly the initial price action on Monday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest comments hailing a resumption of trade talks with Beijing was subdued.

The U.S. leader was upbeat after the G20 meeting at the weekend in Osaka, telling reporters that the talks were “right back on track,” before later tweeting that his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was “far better than expected.”

The problem is that commodity investors and traders have seen it all before, when positive pronouncements from Trump don’t result in progress toward a deal that will resolve the dispute that has been going on for more than a year.

Like the sheep-herding boy from the Aesop fable who cried wolf repeatedly when there was no danger, it’s possible that markets are simply becoming exhausted by endless news on the trade row without any verified progress.

For the rest of this column: https://www.reuters.com/article/column-russell-china-usa-commodities/column-the-trump-who-tweeted-wolf-commodities-wary-of-us-china-trade-news-russell-idUSL4N2420OZ