US-China trade truce gives global stocks and oil a big lift

Shares around the world and oil prices surged Monday after the U.S. and China struck a 90-day truce in a trade dispute that has rattled investors for months.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, Germany's DAX climbed 2.4 percent to 11,511 and France's CAC 40 was up 1.1 percent at 5,057. Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 1.8 percent to 7,104. Wall Street was poised for a buoyant day too, with Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 1.5 percent.

G-20 SUMMIT: President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping dined together at the G-20 summit over the weekend and called a cease-fire, lasting for at least 90 days, to allow time to smooth out a dispute over Chinese technology policies that the U.S. and other trading partners consider predatory. Trump will hold off on plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, which were supposed to kick in on Jan. 1. In return, Xi agreed to buy a "very substantial amount" of agricultural, energy and industrial products from the U.S. to reduce its large trade deficit with China, the White House said. The truce could steady financial markets until the end of the year, analysts said, but any bumps in negotiations would bring on more volatility.

ANALYST TAKE: "Three months is not a very long time to achieve this so there are naturally plenty of sceptics out there but this is a rare piece of good news in a conflict that has yet to produce any," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

ENERGY: Oil prices also surged in the wake of the U.S.-China truce. Investors were also digesting the news that Qatar will withdraw from OPEC in January. Benchmark U.S. crude was up $1.99 to $52.92 per barrel in electronic trading Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude rose $2.19 to $61.65 per barrel.

THE QUOTE: "It is important to remember that OPEC has gradually lost an increasing amount of its influence over the past couple of years and is instead trying to cooperate more with outside producers," said Jameel Ahmad, Global Head of Currency Strategy & Market Research at FXTM. "Therefore I wouldn't expect the news that Qatar is going to leave the cartel to be a big blow for the group as long as relations with Qatar can be maintained."

ASIA'S DAY: Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 2.6 percent to 27,182.04 and the Shanghai Composite index jumped 2.6 percent to 2,654.80. Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 1 percent to 22,574.76 and the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.7 percent to 2,131.93. The S&P ASX/200 in Australia added 1.8 percent to 5,771.20. Shares rallied in Taiwan and throughout Southeast Asia.

CURRENCIES: The euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.1334 while the dollar rose 0.1 percent to 11.59 yen.