Half-Empty Glass Mood Brewing Over Tariffs

Trade issues and concerns continue to grab the spotlight after threats were made to slap tariff hikes on nearly all goods from China. At the same time, markets appear to be giving cautious acknowledgement to earlier news that the U.S. and Chinese governments are working out details on another round of trade talks. In the end however, pessimism is brewing over the thought of new tariffs and their impact on global trade. New data released in this week’s PPI report indicated that inflation slowed in August, but was not enough to impact Treasury yields, as the 10-year remained in the high 2.90% range.