World Stocks Climb to One-Week High on Hopes of Trade Reconciliation

Hopes for a thaw in U.S.-China trade relations at the upcoming G20 summit helped world shares inch to a one-week high on Wednesday, though fears of a no-deal outcome weighed on European bourses and kept the dollar firm for the fourth day in a row. While President Donald Trump talked tough on the trade tariffs issue ahead of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, markets focused on comments by White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who held open the possibility that the two countries would reach a trade deal. Kudlow’s comments helped Wall Street close higher and allowed Chinese and Japanese shares to rally 1 percent. MSCI's index of Asian shares outside Japan gained 0.7 percent.But the mood fizzled somewhat into the European session, with the pan-European index giving up opening gains to trade flat and Germany's export-heavy bourse slipping 0.2 percent. A Tuesday report that Trump may soon decide about new taxes on imported cars, still weighed on sentiment, keeping Europe's auto sector shares 0.6 percent in the red"An expectation is being priced into markets ahead of the G20 meeting that we will see some deal or at least a framework for a deal between Trump and (Chinese President) Xi Jinping," said Bernd Berg, global macro strategist at Switzerland-based Woodman Asset Management.