The daily business briefing: June 26, 2019

1. Stock futures climb after Mnuchin says China trade deal '90 percent' done

U.S. stock index futures surged early Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said U.S. negotiators were close to sealing a trade deal with China. "We were about 90 percent of the way there ... and I think there's a path to complete this," Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up by 0.4 percent, while those of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose by 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Mnuchin said he was confident that President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could make progress toward resolving remaining sticking points when they meet during the Group of 20 summit this weekend.

CNBC

2. Fed officials dampen hopes of big July rate cut

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Tuesday made comments that chipped away at expectations of an aggressive interest rate cut in July. Powell, speaking at the Council of Foreign Relations, reiterated recent statements about concerns central bank policy makers have about the possibility that trade tensions could hurt economic growth. "The question my colleagues and I are grappling with is whether these uncertainties will continue to weigh on the outlook and thus call for additional policy accommodation," he said. Bullard, who wanted a quarter-point cut and dissented from the Fed's decision to keep rates steady last week, said in an interview Tuesday that a quarter-point cut for "insurance" would be smart, but a half-point cut would be "overdone."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

MarketWatch

3. Wayfair rattled by report of walkout over sales to furnish border facilities

Wayfair shares fell by 5 percent on Tuesday after hundreds of employees reportedly planned a walkout at the retailer's Boston headquarters in protest of the company's alleged sale of more than $200,000 worth of bedroom furniture for use in a detention facility for migrant children in Texas. A Twitter account using the handle @wayfairwalkout called for workers to walk out on Wednesday. The Twitter account was created this month and already has 13,000-plus followers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a high-profile progressive Democrat from New York. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) tweeted support for the walkout. "The safety and well-being of immigrant children is always worth fighting for." The company did not immediately comment on the matter.

Reuters

4. Trump might delay new China tariffs ahead of fresh trade talks

The Trump administration is considering suspending the next tariff hikes on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports ahead of a fresh round of trade negotiations, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plans. A final decision could be announced after President Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday at a Group of 20 summit in Japan. The Trump administration has said the two leaders will discuss a path forward for a trade agreement after the collapse of negotiations last month. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his counterpart in Beijing, Vice Premier Liu He, spoke by phone on Monday to hammer out an agenda for the meeting.

Bloomberg

5. San Francisco bans e-cigarette sales

San Francisco on Tuesday voted to ban sales of e-cigarettes, including products from locally-headquartered Juul. The city's mayor, London Breed, has 10 days to review the legislation and potentially sign it into law. If she does, it will go into effect in seven months, after which it will be illegal to sell nicotine vaporizer products in stores or for online retailers to ship the goods to San Francisco. It will be the first ban of its kind in the country. City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who co-sponsored the bill, said that the increase in e-cigarettes has led to higher rates of nicotine addiction among young people. Cigarettes and other tobacco products, as well as recreational marijuana, remain legal in the city.

Bloomberg