U.S. Stocks Open Higher on Trade Talks Progress; New Energy Vehicles Surge
2min read On the evening of April 28, U.S. stock markets opened slightly higher, with the Nasdaq index later turning negative. The White House announced that trade negotiations were progressing smoothly, with more details expected to be released later in the week. This news came as a relief to investors who have been closely monitoring the ongoing trade discussions between the two countries.
In the aviation sector, the industry has been struggling due to the trade war initiated by the Trump administration and a decline in travel demand. Industry officials have been lobbying the White House for tariff exemptions, seeking to restore the tax-free status granted under the 1979 Civil Aircraft Agreement. This agreement had provided the aviation industry with a $75 billion trade surplus annually, a benefit that was lost due to Trump's tariff policies.
New energy vehicle stocks saw significant gains, with nio rising nearly 6%, xpeng, li auto, and toyota motor corporation all rising more than 3%, and tesla rising more than 1%. Toyota Motor Corporation's chairman, Akio Toyoda, proposed acquiring Toyota Industries Corporation, a supplier, for approximately 6 trillion yen ($42 billion). Toyota Industries Corporation, which manufactures parts for Toyota Motor Corporation, has formed a special committee to evaluate the acquisition offer. The company continues to produce textile machinery, automobile engines, automotive electronics, and stamping dies.
Tesla's stock price initially rose more than 1% before falling. Recently, the company's stock has seen consecutive gains. The U.S. government announced a new regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles, aiming to accelerate their deployment while maintaining requirements for reporting vehicle safety incidents. The U.S. Department of Transportation previously stated that U.S. companies developing autonomous vehicles would be allowed to exempt certain federal safety rules for testing purposes. The department also plans to simplify collision reporting requirements related to autonomous vehicle software and work towards establishing a nationwide set of regulations for autonomous vehicle technology, replacing the current patchwork of state laws.
In the technology sector, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose, with popular Chinese stocks seeing widespread gains. Xunlei rose more than 16%, Tiger Brokers rose more than 5%, and HESAI Technology and Vipshop rose more than 3%. HESAI Technology's stock price rose more than 4% at one point. The company recently announced a strategic partnership with Juneng Technology, aiming to develop a new solution for generating robot simulation training scenarios. This collaboration integrates HESAI's LiDAR technology with Juneng's SpatialLM spatial understanding model and SpatialVerse spatial intelligence solution, achieving millimeter-level 3D spatial modeling and intelligent annotation of physical properties. This partnership is expected to significantly lower the barrier to entry for robot simulation training in the industry, accelerating the commercialization of intelligent robots.
In recent weeks, several foreign institutions have expressed optimism about Chinese assets. In a recent report, the global investment management firm stated that the proportion of Chinese stocks in the portfolios of overseas investors remains relatively low, and there is a higher probability of positive surprises in China's economic performance and corporate earnings. The firm maintains an overweight position on the Chinese market. Morgan Stanley's chief economist for China, Xing Ziqiang, noted that the uncertainty in external factors highlights the stability of China's economic and policy environment. China's strong industrial chain integration capabilities make it an attractive investment destination for global investors, who are reassessing the investment opportunities presented by Chinese assets.
