What's going on?

China tried out the classic �Treat �em keen, keep �em keen� approach with the US on Thursday: the country announced it�ll halve tariffs on $75 billion worth of American goods.

What does this mean?

China didn�t explicitly use the dreaded C-word in its statement, but plenty of investors suspect the country�s trying to curb the economic damage from the recent epidemic. It was only the other day, after all, that its central bank injected almost $200 billion into the economy, as well as slashed interest rates to make borrowing cheaper, encourage spending, and promote growth.

Of course, China might also simply be trying to curry favor with the US, as it looks to avoid even more hardship from a trade war that�s dragged on for almost two years. And it seems to have worked: the US also announced on Thursday it�ll halve tariffs on some Chinese goods too.

Why should I care?

For markets: Anything you can do, we can do better.
The news came as a welcome relief for investors after a brutal sell-off of Chinese shares earlier this week, and the country�s stocks and currency both climbed. Never ones to be left out, investors in the West were also celebrating on Thursday, as both European and US stocks hit new records. Still, those in the US might be wondering how much longer its rally can continue � and they might look to Friday�s employment report for clues.

Zooming out: OPEC’s nonplussed.
One of the coronavirus�s biggest market victims has been oil, whose price has fallen almost 20% since the outbreak began. Chinese energy companies are expecting the country�s oil consumption to fall by a quarter this month � equivalent to 3% of global demand (tweet this). That�s worrying OPEC+ � a group of oil-producing countries that controls over half the world�s supply � which had failed to reach a consensus on how to respond by the time its three-day meeting finished on Thursday.