Stock markets stalled on Thursday, after officials in China said they were not holding talks with the United States about easing trade tensions between the superpowers. That paused a two-day rally, as indexes continued to swing on comments and scraps of information about tariffs in the absence of concrete developments about the escalating global trade war.
Futures for the S&P 500 fluctuated between small losses and gains. The index has seesawed this week as investors reacted to remarks by President Trump, who said this week that he was prepared to be “very nice” in trade negotiations with China. A sharp sell-off in stocks on Monday was followed by two days of sizable gains.
He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday that “there are currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States, and any claims about progress in China-U.S. economic and trade negotiations are baseless rumors without factual evidence.”
A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, reiterated China’s stance, which is that the tariff war was started by the United States and that China would only engage in talks under certain conditions. “China’s attitude is consistent and clear: If you want to fight, we will fight to the end; if you want to talk, the door is open,” he said.
The day before, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed speculation that Mr. Trump was considering unilaterally lowering tariffs on China and emphasized that any moves to de-escalate trade tensions would need to be mutual. “I don’t think either side believes that the current tariff levels are sustainable,” he said.
In other developments on Thursday:
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Big companies reporting their latest earnings warned that tariffs and economic uncertainty would dent profits in the months ahead. PepsiCo and Merck cut their earnings forecasts, while American Airlines withdrew its previous forecast for the rest of the year, until “the economic outlook becomes clearer.”
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The U.S. dollar fell against several major currencies, including the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
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The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds, which move inversely to prices, fell to 4.36 percent.
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Oil futures recovered some ground, with Brent crude up nearly 1 percent, approaching $67 a barrel.
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Stocks in Asia and Europe were mixed: Japan’s main index was up, Hong Kong and South Korea were down, and markets in Britain, France and Germany were roughly flat.
Siyi Zhao contributed research.
Jason Karaian is the business news director, based in London. He was previously the editor of DealBook.
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