US markets settle higher, gold falls up to 3% as Trump hints at 'substantial' China tariff cut; here's how Asian stocks are performing

US markets settled higher on Wednesday amid optimism over US-China trade talks and President Donald Trump's assurance that he would not fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The POTUS also said that he has "no intention of firing" Powell but asked him to be "a little more active" in cutting interest rates.

On Monday, Trump had slammed Powell and called him "Mr Too Late" for not cutting interest rates. "Europe has already 'Lowered' seven times. Powell has always been 'To Late,' except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected. How did that work out?" Trump said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.07%, or 419.59 points, to settle at 39,606.57. The S&P 500 climbed 1.88% to close at 5,387.41, while the Nasdaq Composite soared 2.50% to end at 16,708.

Following the development, spot gold slipped 3% to $3,281.6 an ounce. However, it pared losses llater to trade 1.58% higher at $3,340.28 per ounce.

Brent Crude climbed 0.10%, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 0.19%.

Here's how Asian markets are performing

At 8:15 am, the Asian markets were trading mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 is up 1% to 35,244, while Singapore's Straits Times gained 0.18% to 3,839.

On the other hand, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.35% and 0.55%, respectively.

The GIFT NIFTY hits a negative start for the Indian stock exchanges as it is down 0.23% to 24,262.