It was another day of trade tariffs “drama” within the US White House administration. Yesterday, 23 April, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House is considering cutting the steep tariffs on Chinese imports by more than 50%.

However, US Treasury Secretary Bessent later clarified that President Trump has not made any unilateral offer to remove tariffs on Chinese imports.

Optimism over US-China trade de-escalation has faded. Although major US indices— S&P 500 , Nasdaq 100 , Dow Jones , and Russell 2000 , posted gains of 1.5% to 2.3% on 23 April, they all closed near session lows.

Both the S&P 500 and Dow formed bearish “Shooting Star” candlestick patterns after retesting their 20-day moving averages, signalling possible exhaustion of bullish momentum seen in the last two days.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Bessent stated there are “no currency targets” in trade talks with Japan, with the focus remaining on trade imbalances. USD/JPY slipped 0.5% in the Asian session to 142.70, following a 1.3% gain the previous day.

After two days of losses, Gold ( XAU/USD ) is trading higher in today’s Asian opening session with an intraday gain of 2.1% on the backdrop of conflicting US White House’s trade tariffs policy implementation.

West Texas crude oil fell 2% yesterday after a Reuters report stated that several OPEC+ members may suggest that the cartel accelerate oil output increases for a second month in June.

Economic Data Releases

Chart of the Day – US Wall Street 30 (DJIA) Bearish Reaction at 20-day MA

Fig 2: US Wall Street 30 CFD Index minor trend as of 24 Apr 2025

The price actions of the US Wall Street 30 CFD have staged a bearish reaction yesterday, 23 April, right at its 20-day moving average, which has coincided with the 40,070/40,380 key short-term pivotal resistance zone.

In addition, the hourly RSI momentum indicator has also exited its overbought region with a bearish divergence condition that suggests the prior upside momentum seen on the last two days has waned.

A break below the 39,300 near-term support (the gap-up formed on Wednesday, 23 April) exposes the next intermediate supports at 38,820 and 37,900 in the first step.

On the other hand, a clearance above 40,380 invalidates the bearish tone for a potential continuation of the minor mean reversion rebound sequence to see the next intermediate resistances coming in at 40,910 and 41,740 (also the 50-day moving average).

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