Stock futures, Aussie get brief boost from U.S.- China trade deal hopes

LONDON (Reuters) – Stock futures in Europe and the United States turned briefly positive on Tuesday and the trade-sensitive Australian dollar spiked higher after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed on trade.

Traders quickly pushed up prices of the Eurostoxx 50 futures STXEc1 and DAX futures FDXc1 while S&P 500 futures ESc1 and Nasdaq futures NQc1 also rose in early London trading, but gains quickly evaporated as the media report referred to a previous phone conversation between the two leaders on Nov. 1.

The Australian dollar AUD=D3 briefly rallied 0.4 percent to $0.7269 on the news but trimmed gains later to stand 0.2 percent higher on the day at $0.7230.

Rising trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have dominated global markets this year.