U.S. President Donald Trump notified reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he hoped to strike a deal with China before the March deadline. Trump also alleged Chinese President Xi Jinping told him in a letter that he hopes both sides will be able to meet each other halfway on a commerce agreement before the deadline.
The comments came on the same day that the U.S. and China concluded two days of high-level negotiations in Washington.
Two commencements also told CNBC on Thursday that U.S. and Chinese officials are talking about arranging a meeting between Trump and Xi for till February.
Meanwhile, stocks stateside closed out their best January in three decades amid strong earnings. The S&P 500 surged 7.87 percent, its best January performance since 1987, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 7.17 percent in the month — its best January gain in 30 years.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.604 after look after lows above 95.1 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.87 against the dollar after seeing highs about 108.5 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7242 after touching an earlier high of $0.7278.
Oil prices saw pick ups in the afternoon of Asian trade. The international benchmark Brent crude futures contract rose 0.31 percent to $61.03 per barrel while U.S. blunt futures advanced 0.13 percent to $53.86 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Yen Nee Lee contributed to this report.