August 17, 5:00 pm EST

Back in July, we talked about the significance of the President of the European Commission coming to Washington to make a deal on trade.  That was a big day for Trump’s fight to level the playing field on global trade.

Why?  Because concessions out of Europe paved the way to more concessions globally.

That’s what we’re getting. Fast forward a little less than a month and now we have China (the center of the global trade dispute universe) coming back to the table on trade negotiations with the U.S.

This is what happens when you negotiate from a position of strength.  Trump has the leverage of a strong economy, and the credibility to act on tough threats. And that is bringing about progress.  Trading partners risk being left behind in the global economic recovery if they don’t play ball.

So we should expect “movement” from China.  And movement equals success.

With that, as I said, I suspect that will be the catalyst to get stocks back on the path toward double-digit gains by year-end.