Walmart has notified Chinese suppliers to resume shipping goods – report

Last week, major US retailers including Walmart, Target and Home Depot met with the White House. Shortly afterwards, the stock market turned around, leading to an extremely strong week in the S&P 500.

Today, Hong Kong based Ming Pao (a reputable newspaper) reports from the Canton Fair, which is an import/export fair and reported that:

• Walmart has already notified Chinese suppliers to resume shipping goods that had been temporarily suspended due to the tariff war
• several exporters independently mentioned it
• all tariffs are paid by the buyer (Americans)
• A ceramics shipper said only seasonal products are being resumed

It’s hard to shake the sense that many people were trading last week on inside information, or at least a strong belief that the White House will substantially ease tariffs. If that’s the case, we could see some ‘sell the fact’ action if/when it’s announced.