Limp US-China trade deal keeps investors happy –at least for now | Nils Pratley

After much fanfare, markets took the ho-hum view that any kind of agreement is better than nothing

Nobody doubts the ability of the great US-China trade war to generate headlines, move markets and dominate investors' mood. After an enormous fanfare, though, the "phase one" trade deal landed limply. There wasn't much there.

There was, it should be said, a showy number: a requirement on China to boost its purchases of US goods and agricultural products by $200bn (153bn) compared with 2017 levels. But it's over two years, not one, and most analysts took the view that they'll believe it when they see it.