Wall Street overnight saw the S&P 500 hit a record high.<br />That was apparently due to optimism that the U.S. and China will reach a trade deal... and that the Fed will cut rates this week.<br />Our Hong Yoo has the details.<br />The S&P rose more than half a percent to close at 3,039, almost 4 points higher than the most recent record set in July.<br />The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up, closing less than 1 percent off its own all-time high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq index rose a little over 1 percent.<br />South Korea's benchmark KOSPI also started strong, but investors took a wait-and-see approach in terms of a Fed rate cut, leaving the index flat at about 20-92.<br />The U.S. gains come after President Trump told reporters on Monday that a significant part of the trade deal with China could be signed ahead of schedule.<br />This the "Phase One" agreement he said was reached, essentially, earlier this month in Washington.<br />Trump said it will help farmers, and in his words "take care of a lot of the banking needs."<br />The U.S. and China are widely believed to be looking to sign the deal next month in Chile on the sidelines of the APEC summit.<br />And possibly to help make that happen, the U.S. Trade Representative announced Monday... that it's considering another delay in the tariffs due to take effect this December.<br />Those would affect Chinese goods worth around 34 billion dollars.<br />The agency will take comments on that proposition in November before making a final decision.<br />Hong Yoo, Arirang News.<br />
