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Exclusive: Airbus China order padded by old or incomplete deals – sources

FILE PHOTO: The Airbus logo is pictured at Airbus headquarters in Blagnac near Toulouse
FILE PHOTO: The Airbus logo is pictured at Airbus headquarters in Blagnac near Toulouse, France, March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo

April 2, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – A landmark order from China for 300 Airbus jets signed during a state visit last week was bolstered by repeat announcements of dozens of existing deals and advance approval for deals that are not yet completed, two people familiar with the matter said.

Echoing an umbrella order for 300 Boeing jets awarded during a visit to Beijing by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017, the headline figure for the new “framework order” for European jets was partly driven by political considerations, the people said.

The Airbus deal would have been worth some $35 billion at list prices but the amount of new business is lower, they added. Duplicate announcements included a deal for 10 A350 aircraft to an unnamed buyer, which represents a repeat announcement of an order for 10 jets by Sichuan Airlines at an air show last year.

The disclosure takes some of the shine off an announcement seen as the economic highlight of a trip to Europe by Chinese President Xi Jinping, but does mark a return to the aircraft market by China’s state buying agency after a pause of over a year during global trade tensions.

Airbus declined to comment on detailed orders but left open the possibility that the large deal contained gaps.

The agreement “creates the approval framework for aircraft ordered by Chinese airlines, be it existing orders or future orders,” a spokesman said in response to a Reuters query.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Bate Felix/Sudip Kar-Gupta)

Source: OANN

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Officer says partner fired before he could analyze threat

The partner of a Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman testified Thursday that he didn't fire his own weapon because he hadn't fully analyzed the possible threat, agreeing with a prosecutor's characterization that it would have been "premature" to use deadly force.

Officer Matthew Harrity is a key witness in the trial of Mohamed Noor, who fired a single shot at Justine Ruszczyk Damond as she approached the officers' squad car on July 15, 2017.

Damond had placed two 911 calls that night to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. Struck in the abdomen, the 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia bled to death in an incident that sparked anger and disbelief in both countries.

Prosecutors questioned Harrity on some key points, including why he didn't fire his own weapon and why he didn't tell investigators at the scene about a supposed thump on the squad car that he said startled the officers.

Harrity, dressed in full uniform and crying at one point during his testimony, said as he and Noor responded to Damond's 911 call, they drove down the alley with their headlights off, using a spotlight to search for any evidence of a woman in trouble. Harrity, who was driving, had the safety hood off his holster, ready to pull his gun if needed.

The pair was in the alley for less than two minutes. Finding nothing, they stopped at the end of the alley and planned to go to another call.

Harrity testified that he then had a "weird feeling" to his left but couldn't make out what it was.

"At this time, I hear something hit the car and I also hear some sort of murmur," he said. He said he was startled by the thump and his mind went straight to a possible ambush.

He immediately drew his gun and held it to his ribs pointing downward, he said. Under cross-examination from defense attorney Peter Wold, Harrity admitted he was scared.

Harrity said that as he tried to make sense of what was happening, he heard a pop, saw a flash, and looked over to see Noor had fired his gun. Noor had fired across Harrity and through the driver's side window.

Prosecutor Amy Sweasy seized on Harrity's restraint, asking him about his training in the reasonable use of deadly force. Noor is charged with murder and manslaughter and prosecutors need to prove that he acted unreasonably when he shot Damond.

Under questioning from Sweasy, Harrity said that he would need to identify a threat and a target before firing his weapon. Harrity conceded that an officer would not point a gun unless he intended to use it, and said deadly force can be used only under reasonable circumstances.

"Use of deadly force, from your viewpoint at this point, would have been premature," Sweasy said of the situation. "Yes, with what I had," Harrity replied.

Harrity also faced tough questions about what he told investigators in the moments right after the shooting. Prosecutors have questioned the defense narrative of a thump on the squad car, saying investigators found no forensic evidence that Damond touched it.

Harrity acknowledged Thursday that he didn't mention the thump to anyone that night, but said that was because only a brief statement was required and he knew he would be making a full statement in coming days.

Noor never talked to investigators and it isn't clear whether he will testify.

Harrity said he worked well with Noor, adding that he trusted him and felt Noor always had his back.

"I loved working with Officer Noor," he said.

Harrity grew emotional during his testimony when he talked about his own mindset in the days after the shooting.

Neither officer had their body cameras running when Damond was shot, something Harrity blamed on what he called a vague policy that didn't require it.

Sweasy questioned Harrity about that repeatedly, at one point asking, "It was more important to get your gun ready than your body-worn camera?" Harrity said it was, after repeatedly testifying that he didn't know what he would encounter.

Both men switched their cameras on afterward, and both videos were played on Thursday.

The body camera videos show efforts by the two men to save Damond with CPR, and they show the last moments of her life. In the videos, Damond struggles to breathe, and Harrity says repeatedly, "Stay with me, stay with me, stay breathing." He also is heard addressing his partner: "Noor, breathe, just breathe."

At one point, Harrity tells Noor to continue CPR and Harrity gets medical supplies for Damond's wound. Harrity cautions Noor to slow down the CPR, and reassures Noor that an ambulance is coming.

A medical examiner testified earlier that Damond was hit in a key artery and lost so much blood so quickly that even faster medical care might not have saved her.

When other officers arrive on the scene, both Harrity and Noor tell them that Damond was shot by police, according to the videos.

Damond was white. Noor , 33, is a Somali American whose hire two years before the shooting was celebrated by Minneapolis leaders as a sign of a diversifying police force in a city with a large population of Somali immigrants.

Much of the prosecution's early case focused on the handling of the crime scene by police and state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents, including possible missteps. They also highlighted officers turning their body cameras on and off repeatedly after the shooting.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the prosecutor's last name is Sweasy, not Sweazy.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti

___

Check out the AP's complete coverage of Mohamed Noor's trial.

Source: Fox News National

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Car industry will be big 5G customer down the road, says SEAT

Minimo, the new all-electric a two-seater concept vehicle by the Spanish car-maker SEAT, is displayed inside company's booth after being unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
Minimo, the new all-electric a two-seater concept vehicle by the Spanish car-maker SEAT, is displayed inside company's booth after being unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 25, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

February 25, 2019

By Isla Binnie

BARCELONA (Reuters) – Carmakers will be big customers for next-generation telecoms networks, helping to justify investment in 5G, but need to be more innovative if the technology is to take off, Spain’s SEAT said on Monday.

The deployment of 5G promises to link everything from vehicles to household devices but will require prodigious investment and the telecoms industry is trying to agree on if and how 5G can facilitate enough innovations to be profitable.

Luca de Meo, chief executive of Volkswagen-owned SEAT, said applications were currently “pretty limited”, before unveiling what he described as Europe’s first 5G-connected concept car at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Still, he said connecting a car with a passenger’s mobile phone, or external infrastructure or retailers could lead to billions of possible transactions.

“I think personally the automotive industry will play a big role in justifying the investment so we will be one of the big customers but we need to be creative,” De Meo told Reuters.

“We need to experiment and look at functionalities and hopefully the market will say, OK, I want to buy a car like this because it can prevent an accident or it can see around the corner and I value that and I (will) pay for it.”

5G will help to slowly develop autonomous driving, where the costs of installing sensor technology are already falling, De Meo said. That market is expected to be worth as much as $95 billion in 2020.

But ethical questions, issues of infrastructure and how traditional cars will coexist with driverless ones make it very difficult to say when the market will take off, he said.

SEAT expects the next version of the Minimo concept car, an electric model in which one passenger sits behind the driver, to be equipped for autonomous “L4” everyday driving in cities.

“We see the potential in the car-sharing platform,” De Meo said, adding costs could be slashed 50 percent if cars could be tracked, did not have to be moved and were constantly running and so did not pay for parking.

In Barcelona, SEAT tested systems like putting thermal cameras in traffic lights to detect the presence of pedestrians and feed the data back to the car.

De Meo said a car can potentially produce as much data as 3,000 smartphones, so should be a “pillar” of the so-called “Internet of things”, whereby everyday objects are linked up by chips that can communicate with each other.

(This story corrects Seat CEO’s surname to “De Meo”, not “Di Meo”)

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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Tennis: Taiwan’s Hsieh stuns Kerber to reach Dubai quarters

Tennis - Australian Open - Third Round
FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Australian Open - Third Round - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2019. Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei in action during the match against Japan's Naomi Osaka. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

February 20, 2019

(Reuters) – Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber suffered a surprise last 16 exit from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after being beaten by unseeded Hsieh Su-wei 5-7 6-4 6-0 on Wednesday.

Taiwan’s Hsieh was two games away from defeat when Kerber rallied from 2-4 down to draw level at 4-4 in the second set, but the world number 31 won eight of the last 10 points to send the match to a decider.

The 33-year-old Hsieh ultimately scorched into the last eight, converting three break points to bagel her German opponent.

Hsieh, who recorded her first win in three attempts against Kerber, will next face Karolina Pliskova for a place in her second semi-final of the season, and first since the opening week of 2019 at the Auckland Classic.

“How did I win? I try very hard,” Hsieh said after notching up her first victory over a top 10 opponent since beating Simona Halep at last year’s Wimbledon.

“The first two sets, we both try super hard, so it was very close. Final set, I did little bit more. I feel more relaxed in the final set, so I gained the match pretty well.”

World number four Petra Kvitova overcame American qualifier Jennifer Brady 7-5 1-6 6-3 to reach the last eight in Dubai for the first time in six years.

Australian Open runner-up Kvitova was two points away from losing the opening set in the ninth game when she responded in style by clinching 14 of the next 16 points.

After defeating Katerina Siniakova in three sets in the second round, Kvitova had said on Twitter she was “glad P3tra came back” – and the two-time Wimbledon champion was forced to step up her game again in a decider against Brady.

Kvitova benefited from Brady’s sixth double fault of the match to secure a break in the first game before producing a string of delightful serve and volley combinations to extend her lead.

While Kvitova squandered her first match point by producing a 10th double fault, the Czech sealed a victory with a clinical point finished at the net.

“The wind was just terrible today, to be honest,” said Kvitova after reaching at least the quarter-finals for the fourth successive tournament.

“It was really difficult to find a way with it. I couldn’t really serve well today at all. It’s been big struggle for me.”

Third seed Simona Halep joined Kvitova in the quarter-finals after the Romanian continued her steady progress with a 6-3 7-5 win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

Two-time defending champion Elina Svitolina extended her winning streak in Dubai to 11 matches after defeating two-times Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza 6-1 6-2.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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New Zealand PM to Announce Gun Crackdown

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Top-Ranking Democrat Says Mueller Report Doesn’t Matter — ‘We Know There Was Collusion’

Virginia Kruta | Associate Editor

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler confirmed Sunday that Congress will continue to investigate President Donald Trump regardless of the conclusions reached by special counsel Robert Mueller.

“We know there was collusion,” Nadler insisted several times during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with guest host Dana Bash. “Why there’s been no indictments, we don’t know.” (RELATED: Nadler Unleashes Massive Document Requests Into Threats Against Rule Of Law)

WATCH:

Nadler listed the Trump Tower meeting — which has been the subject of numerous false reports — and the way Trump “pressured the FBI to go easy, to stop investigating Flynn,” and Trump firing Comey as evidence of the alleged “collusion.”

Bash pointed out several times that none of that rose to the level of indictment from the Mueller team, but Nadler quickly shrugged it off.

“Well, there have been obstructions of justice, whether they are — clearly, whether they are criminal obstruction is another question,” Nadler explained. “But we have — the special prosecutor is limited in scope. His job was limited in scope and limited to crimes. What Congress has to do is look at a broader picture. We are in charge — we have the responsibility of protecting the rule of law, of looking at obstructions of justice, abuses of power, at corruption, in order to protect the rule of law so that our democratic institutions are not greatly damaged by this president.”

Nadler’s response made it clear that Congressional Democrats are likely moving forward with any number of investigations — in spite of warnings from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell regarding the possible consequences of “presidential harassment.”

Follow Virginia on Twitter

Source: The Daily Caller

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United says using larger jets on 737 MAX routes is ‘costing money’

FILE PHOTO: United Airlines planes, including a Boeing 737 MAX 9 model, are pictured at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston
FILE PHOTO: United Airlines planes, including a Boeing 737 MAX 9 model, are pictured at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, U.S., March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

April 9, 2019

CHICAGO (Reuters) – United Airlines’ use of larger aircraft on routes previously flown by Boeing Co’s grounded 737 MAX jets is costing the carrier money in the short-term, President Scott Kirby said in a letter to employees seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

“Of course, we can’t keep this up forever,” Kirby said, while noting that eligible employees will receive a one-time $100 bonus on April 17 despite an “unusually high number of headwinds thrown our way in the first quarter.”

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth is running at a 1.1% pace in the second quarter as the gains in exports and inventories recorded in the first quarter are expected to reverse, Morgan Stanley economists said on Friday.

“Our preliminary expectations for growth in the second quarter sees large drags from net exports and inventories after their contributions in 1Q,” they wrote in a research note.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first three months of the year, driven by a smaller trade deficit and the largest accumulation of unsold merchandise since 2015, the Commerce Department said earlier Friday.

(Reporting by Richard Leong)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Within hours of the collapse of merger talks with Commerzbank, Christian Sewing scrambled to convince investors and employees that Deutsche Bank can stand on its own two feet.

The Deutsche Bank chief executive told staff, many of whom opposed a merger because of significant job losses, that while he had not been “skeptical” about the Commerzbank talks, he was cautious about the chances of success from the start.

And another top Deutsche Bank executive said on Friday that it had been Commerzbank that initiated the talks, suggesting there was no desperation on their part for a deal.

Commerzbank denied that version of events, ending the apparent truce between the normally highly competitive cross-town Frankfurt rivals over the past six weeks.

German hopes of creating a national banking champion able to challenge global competitors were finally dashed on Thursday when Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended their talks due to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands.

For Sewing, the failure to clinch a deal has left the 49-year-old chief executive of Germany’s largest bank, who took over just over a year ago, with his back to the wall.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded Deutsche Bank last year, said on Friday that Deutsche Bank “will remain under strain”, adding that it “seems to have acknowledged the need to adjust its strategy”.

Under Sewing, a new leadership has tried to revive Deutsche Bank’s fortunes, but it has faced money laundering allegations and failed stress tests, as well as ratings downgrades.

At the heart of the debate over its future is whether it should focus its business on Germany and draw a line under its costly global ambitions to take on Wall Street’s big guns.

“MARKET PLAY”

Without a deal, Deutsche Bank now finds itself back at the mercy of equity and debt markets, with UBS analysts warning that in a “stress scenario” it could again “be forced into a ‘debt-driven capital increase’ even with solid capital ratios”.

“Deutsche remains a levered market play vulnerable to external events,” the UBS analysts said in a note.

Sewing, along with many analysts, believes Deutsche Bank can go it alone in the short-term, but will be counting on a turnaround in market conditions to do so in the long-run given its dependence on volatile investment bank earnings.

“To reach our return objective, we also need to see a revenue recovery in our more market-sensitive business,” Sewing said on Friday after reporting results.

“These revenues are available to us in better market conditions given our leading positions in many of these businesses, but we need to capture them,” he added.

Revenue at Deutsche Bank’s bond trading division fell 19 percent in the first quarter, it said on Friday, underscoring weakness at its investment bank.

If those earnings do not improve, Berlin’s desire to keep its biggest bank out of foreign hands may start to wane.

“Germany’s globally active companies need competitive financial institutions that can support them around the world,” German finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.

(Writing by Alexander Smith; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Panama's former president Ricardo Martinelli yells to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City
Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli reacts to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City, Panama April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Erick Marciscano

April 26, 2019

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama’s electoral tribunal has ruled that former President Ricardo Martinelli, who is awaiting trial on wiretapping charges, cannot take part in elections on May 5 in which he was running for mayor of Panama City and a seat in Congress, a spokesman for Martinelli said on Friday.

“The ruling of the electoral tribunal has disqualified him as candidate,” said the spokesman, Eduardo Camacho, calling the court’s ruling a “political decision.”

Officials at the tribunal did not immediately confirm the ruling, which also was reported in local media in Panama.

Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon who ran the Central American country from 2009 to 2014, was extradited to Panama last June from the United States and charged with spying on 150 people, including politicians, union leaders and journalists.

A judge had previously cleared Martinelli to run for mayor of the capital. His critics vowed to appeal that decision.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno and Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City
FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Shares of Walmart, Target and other U.S. retailers fell on Friday as Amazon.com Inc unveiled a one-day delivery plan for its Prime members in a move to further disrupt the fiercely competitive retail landscape.

The e-commerce giant’s announcement on Thursday could cause other brands, manufacturers, retailers, and logistics companies to have to invest more aggressively to compete with Amazon and its delivery, analysts said.

Retailers in recent years have poured billions into ecommerce and faster shipping options and are trying to close the gap with Amazon.

“This is about making it more expensive to catch up and affirms our world view that only the largest and smartest will survive,” Bernstein analyst Brandon Fletcher said.

The move is expected to heighten consumer expectations on e-commerce delivery just like Amazon did with its two-day shipping option for members of its loyalty club Prime, noted analysts.

“The faster you ship, the more people buy,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said.

The challenge for non-Amazon players was that very few of the existing logistics and parcel delivery players now have the ability to do nationwide one-day delivery, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said.

“And even fewer can do it at the vast scale and reasonable cost that AMZN would need for Prime delivery,” Nowak said in a note.

Walmart Inc’s shares fell about 3 percent, while Target Corp dropped about 5 percent in morning trade.

Shares of Kohl’s Corp, Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc fell about 1 percent. Grocer Kroger Co was nearly 3 percent lower, while consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Inc dropped 2.1 percent.

(Reporting by Soundarya J and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Source: OANN

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A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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